


Magic, Duh (AKA Canadian Exchange Hottie)

by Mistressaq



Category: RuPaul's Drag Race RPF
Genre: AQ rare pair fic challenge 2019, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, F/F, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Lesbians, Magic School, Menstruation, Minor Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining, Rare Pairings, Serious Discussions, Social Anxiety, eating disorder mentioned, foreign exchange student!brooke, houses are made up of people from different seasons, its a magical all girls school, large spiders, like everyone is sapphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-04
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-04-07 10:25:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 36,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19083133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mistressaq/pseuds/Mistressaq
Summary: Brooke is a Canadian exchange student visiting William King School for the Gifted and Talented, an all girls school for magical teens. Immediately, she is on the recieving end of all kinds of attention.





	1. "I'm sure the novelty will wear off soon."

**Author's Note:**

> this fic could not have happened without fannyatrollop, citrus, and saiphl (Culture Consultants) and everyone i threw it at begging for feedback. my love language is words of affirmation and oh boy am i a slut for them!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The new Canadian exchange student arrives, already starting waves in long-established friend groups at an all-girl's witch school. Lots of interested parties swarm the fresh blood, but can Brooke Lynn survive clique politics long enough to make lasting connections, or even find love, when everyone is gunning for her attention all at once?

 William King School for the Gifted was, on the outside, a prestigious private school for smart rich kids. The reality was that since all the students had ended traditional education at age 11, they were in fact, quite stupid. They could just get away with it because, well, magic. They knew how to read and write, what more do you need?

Vanessa’s sneakers were in Scarlet’s lap as they waited for their impossibly old instructor to waddle his way into the stuffy, windowless classroom. “Like I get there’s arcane magic that’s really powerful that you can only tap into by speaking dead languages aloud, but like, do we really wanna be giving a bunch of teenagers that power?” mused A’Keria.

“Come on, Mary, what are we gonna do with the spell to…” Ra’Jah checked her overpriced textbook. “Summon the spirit of the dung beetle?”

“You summon him to have him come into your home and have him roll your shit away,” cracked Vanessa. “Obviously!”

The zebra crew broke out into laughter, which was cut off soon enough by the arrival of their instructor. Unlike usual, the first person to walk into the room was a tall blonde stranger, who the teacher followed in. Heads turned en masse to get a better look at the newcomer. “Fresh meat,” sniveled someone from the back. Vanessa shot a glare at the bitchy, checked-out seniors on the far side of the classroom. If she wasn’t so far away, Vanessa would have tucked an elbow between Nina Brown’s ribs. As it was, the senior pulled her contraband ipod from under her jacket and slipped invisible charmed earbuds under her soft bob and put her head down on her desk.

Mr Vladisminof made his way to the front desk and cleared his throat many times. He held out his hand to motion to the new girl, who had taken the nearest open seat, which happened to be right behind Vanessa. They’d left it open ‘cause that’s where Plastique usually sat, but Plastique was out with mono. Ra’Jah glanced to Vanessa as if to ask if she should tell the new girl to pick a different seat, but Vanessa signed an ‘ok’.

“In class we keep our hands _and feet_ to ourselves, Miz Mateo,” sneered the instructor in his aged, reedy voice. Vanessa rolled her eyes and swiveled away from Scarlet, resting her feet on the chair of A’Keria in front of her. Scarlet pulled out her notebook and started doodling squiggly lines.

“You will notice we have a new student in with us today,” wheezed the instructor. “Miz Hytes is visiting from Toronto. She’ll be in with the Patriotism Hall during her time at King academy. You will make her feel welcome.”

Vanessa sat up straight in her seat and looked to Ra’Jah, then Scarlet, then Silky. A’Keria was too busy looking at the instructor. Her friends shared the same knowing look. Vanessa took the initiative to turn behind her and say, “That’s our building. We’re Clan Zebra.” She pointed to the cutesy matching zebra pins each of the girls had sewn onto their blazers. “ We’ve got you.” The new girl smiled politely, quickly turning her attention back to Mr Vlad as he began the lesson.

Vanessa looked to Scarlet. Already ahead, Scarlet tore off a piece of her notebook paper and passed a scribbled message to the new girl. _I’m Scarlet. What’s your name?_

The new girl sat with perfect posture, which was probably annoying Honey behind her. She wrote her answer and stuck the note to her foot with an unspoken charm. Stretching out her leg far enough into the thin alley between the rows of seats, she got the note to Ra’Jah, who pretended to be looking for something on the ground when she grabbed it. She passed it to Scarlet who tilted the note so Vanessa could see. _Brooke Lynn_.

Miss Brooke Lynn was a good student, like A’Keria, and she wasn’t inclined to keep passing notes after her second, where she penned in gorgeous handwriting: _will talk after class, nice to meet you!!_ She even drew a happy face using the exclamation points as eyes.

Vanjie sucked in her cheeks and looked at Scarlet. ‘Cute’ mouthed Vanessa. Scarlet cast a quick glance behind Vanessa and nodded, a sly smile pulling across her face.

 

“What are you doing in the U.S?” “What’s Canada like?” “Are you an athlete?” “Woah, your LEGS!” “How are you so tall?”

“I’m on a rotary scholarship. Canada’s cold but has free healthcare. I used to be a dancer. Thank you, I feel like I’m too exposed in this uniform,” she laughed nervously and looked down. “it wasn’t designed for people with long legs.” Vanessa watched Brooke field question after question with grace. She had charm in addition to focus. She always held herself so… like she was sitting for an official portrait, constantly. The royal blue uniform fit her so well it was uncanny.

“Do you know anyone else here?” asked Scarlet. “Besides us?”

“Ah, yeah actually,” said Brooke. “I know Nina.”

“Which Nina?” prompted Vanessa. “Flores? Brown? West?”

Brooke pursed her lips. “The broad funny one?”

“West,” confirmed the group.

“She’s our Hall Rep. Basically our Mom,” explained Scarlet. “She’s cool. She’s been checking in on Plastique.”

“Who is Plastique?”

“She’s another of our sisters, she’s been sick the past month.”

“It hasn’t been a month.”

“It started at Winter Formal -- that’s a month ago.”

“Formal was a _month and a half_ ago. And it wasn’t Plastique that passed out at Formal -- that was Ariel.”

“Ariel was down for a _long time."_

“Someone have my name in their mouth?” A short girl with a ponytail who added suspenders to her uniform skirt joined ranks with the rest of the clan. “Woah!” Ariel exclaimed, taking in all of Brooke Lynn. _“What are you?”_

While A’Keria, Scarlet and Ra’Jah fell apart sputtering at Ariel’s reaction, Brooke smiled proudly. “I’m a Canadian!”

“Cool,” Ariel’s eyes kept circling up and down Brooke’s tall, svelte body. She turned to A’Keria. “Please say she’s staying in our hall.”

Brooke nodded and Ariel seemed genuinely relieved, before apologizing and heading off in the opposite direction. “Where you headed next?” asked Vanessa, slightly annoyed at the length of time she wasn’t getting attention.

“Ah...” Brooke pulled up the sleeve of her uniform blazer to check the notes she’d written herself using magic marker. “Managing the Undead with a…” she struggled with the name. “Gargar… gargaro-mangina?”

“Gargaro-Magaña” The name rolled off Vanesssa’s tongue with little effort. Brooke blushed, realizing just how badly she’d butchered the name. “The white kids call him Gargar,” Vanessa explained. “He’s fine with it -- mostly. We’ve got another sis in his class, hang on-- YVIE!!”

A girl with rounded features and a shaved head turned a one-eighty at her name being called. “Who’s the Aryan Nation?” Yvie yelled over the noise of the hallway as she approached the rest of the group.

“Name’s Brooke, she’s from Canada. Y’all both fuck with dead people, so you’ve got shit in common.”

Brooke was blushing when Vanessa lightly shoved her toward Yvie. The shorter girl threw an arm around Brooke’s back and led her down the hall and out of the building.

***

Lunch hour came around and the messengers came bounding over the hills on the East side of campus, plastic Arby’s to-go bags in their soft slobbery mouths. Yvie dropped to the grass and patted the space in front of her. Brooke gently squatted down as well, opening her body language to the golden retriever that started wagging his tail feverishly as he sprinted toward Yvie.

“Are you a good boy?? Is this my order???” Yvie took the bag from the very happy dog and started petting him behind the ears.

Brooke extended her hand for the messenger to sniff. After getting her hand gently licked, she ran her hands down his soft clean fur. “What’s his name?” she asked Yvie, still petting the with both hands as he went about getting to know Brooke’s scent.

Yvie reached into the bag and pulled out a piece of shredded meat. “They’re all just called Good Boys or Good Girls.” She whistled to get Good Boy’s attention. He took his shredded beef happily and lay down for more petting.

Suddenly, a high-pitched whistle sounded, and Good Boy and all his brothers and sisters stood at attention, then bolted back in the direction they came from. Brooke pouted slightly at the loss, but Yvie stood up, saying they had to get back to the others. “You won’t like them when they’re hangry.”

They walked right past the doors to a bustling cafeteria, and Brooke glanced at Yvie curiously. “Uh, aren’t we going to lunch?”

“Yeah, but we eat in front of the library. You can’t hear someone if they’re yelling in your ear in the cafeteria,” Yvie explained. “And we’re a group of talkers. You don’t seem much of a talker though.”

Brooke shrugged. “I mean I mostly save my words for where they count. I don’t really say anything unless I have something to say.”

Yvie nodded. “I mean that’s valid but it can come off as kinda superior if you don’t add anything to the conversation hardly ever.”

Brooke’s eyes furrowed. “I don’t think I’m superior.”

Yvie led them around a corner and within view of the girls from Sumerian, plus the girl with suspenders who’d ogled Brooke in the hallway, and a few others Brooke didn’t recognize. When they came closer, Brooke noticed that most of her peers had untucked their dress shirts, loosened their ties and pulled off their blazers by now. Shoes had been taken off, hair pulled down, socks rolled down, legs opened wide without care about who saw anything.

With a blush, the new girl realized that the little one who seemed to be the leader -- Vanessa -- had fully unbuttoned her top. “Huey!” she cried, being the first to notice the food runners. She hopped up from reclining on the steps and came jogging toward Yvie and Brooke. She air-kissed Yvie on the cheek and took the to-go bag from her. While walking them back to the group, she asked, “So, how was necromancy?”

“Alright,” said Yvie noncommittally. “I reanimated a frog’s back end but it’s front half was all flopping around.” She illustrated with her hand. Brooke sputtered a laugh at the memory.

Vanessa cackled at the mental image. Brooke felt something happen in her chest when she heard it. “And you, Canada?” Vanessa saying her name did a thing to her chest as well. “They have classes on reanimating the dead where you’re from?”

“If they did, I never took one.”

They made it to the steps, and Vanessa started pulling out order after order from the one plastic bag. At first, Brooke was weirded out by it, the space inside the bag not computing as being possible to fit that many boxes of sandwiches and that many shakes in a regular sized bag, until she remembered -- magic, duh.

“Oh!” Vanessa seemed to realize that Brooke hadn’t been introduced to everyone yet. She pointed to a girl with medium brown skin seated next to Ra’Jah, “Shug, say hey to Brooke Lynn.”

Shug pulled herself to her feet. She had the ends of her curly brown hair dyed lavender, and when she smiled she had giant, perfect teeth. “Oh yeah, you’re the new hall-mate. Nina says you’re from Toronto?”

“Yeah, just a hop and a skip over the other side of Lake Ontario.” Brooke glanced at Nina, the tall girl who had welcomed her and taken her luggage to their dormitory for her. Nina saw her looking and smiled at her from the steps. Brooke gave a little wave.

“Who else don’t you recognize?” Vanesssa asked Brooke, completely lost on who had and hadn’t been introduced yet.

Brooke chewed her lip. “Oh, I know _you_ , obviously, Yvie, Nina, uh Ra’Jah, A… akacia?”

Vanessa clicked back into gear, running down the line. “A’Keria, Scarlet, Silk, Ariel’s the little one, Shug, Plastique’s out with mono -- Nina! how’s the plague victim?”

Nina spoke up around chewed up cherry turnover. “Last I checked on her she was still binging _POSE_ and her rash wasn’t as awful looking as it was last week.”

“Aw,” squeaked Ariel. “Bless her. Did she get the sun tea with honey I made her?”

“The whole gallon jug was drained by the time I got down to the infirmary,” Nina assured her. “But remember there’s underclassmen down with strep so, knowing her, she let them dip into your tea.”

Brooke smiled listening to the girls chatting about a girl she didn’t even know. She decided she already liked this person. Brooke was handed a lunch wrap by Nina and told to eat. She sat one step lower than Nina, next to Vanessa. She mostly listened to the chatter around her; she liked to hear other people’s stories, fearing her own experiences weren’t worth hearing about. At least, that’s what she thought before coming to America to see how sorcery and wizardry was taught in the U S of A.

Attention suddenly shifted to the arrival of a shorter Korean girl approaching. She walked slower, and with a bit of a limp. “Soju!” exclaimed several voices. Nina stood up and walked over to Soju and Vanessa pulled yet another boxed sandwich out of the plastic Mary Poppins bag. “Please don’t say you got pulled into the Assistant Principal’s office again,” whined Shuga, making space for Soju to sit next to her.

“I didn’t get pulled into the assistant principal’s office,” said Soju, taking ahold of her lunch sandwich. “Mmf. This is good. I love how they’re hot still.”

“Magic kicks ass,” says Ra’Jah. “But where were you?”

Soju spoke through bites of ham and swiss. “I was with my counsellor. Drafting a letter to the American Association of People with Disabilities.”

“Oh my God why?” more than ten faces look her way and Brooke realized she was the one who spoke, and that it was her first time speaking since they arrived. “Sorry.”

“Awe,” cooed Scarlet. “Soar-y. By the way Soj, this is Brooke, from Canada.”

“Hi Brooke,” said Soju softly. “So I’ve had struggles with tendonitis for a few years and the school uniform code insists you wear heels -- like the ones you’re wearing.” Brooke looked down, momentarily forgetting she was wearing shoes. “I can’t wear those for long stretches of time,” Soju continued. “And there’s so much walking to and from classes I can’t wear them but I keep getting dress coded for not wearing the ‘correct’ shoes.”

Vanessa rolled her eyes and kicked her feet up, showing off her well-worn converse. “Girl, I can _give_ you the shoe charm, all you gotta do is reapply it every morning and the teachers won’t even notice you’re out of uniform.”

Soju took a drink from A’Keria’s shake.”It’s about the principle, though. They shouldn’t be allowed to write me up for being out of uniform when I have a medical condition. In fact, it’s illegal. I know it’s magic school and they like to think they play by different rules, but we’re all still US citizens --”

 _“I’m_ not.”

Vanessa snorted, then gently slapped Brooke’s shoulder. She was finally starting to loosen up around her new crowd. She didn’t think it would happen this quickly.

Soju rolled her eyes. “Except for New Girl, we’re all still entitled to federal protections. Which is why I drafted a letter to send to the AAPD so they can tear this school a new one. I shouldn’t have to charm my clothing to avoid punishment for something I can’t control.”

“We hear you, Soj,” said the girl named Silky, who had been silent up to this point. “We hear you and we support you.” Shuga said something of the like at the same time as Silky was speaking, so all Brooke could really hear was vague words of support, which she supposed was good.

“Girl,” Vanessa’s voice reminded Brooke of a bird squawking. “This is the dumb-ass hill you wanna die on, I’m gonna judge the hell outta you for it, but you know I’m still behind you.”

“And _I’m_ tired of hearing the same thing over and over again.” Scarlet stretched out her back and legs. “Canada,” she addressed Brooke Lynn. “What’s T, sis?”

“I’m sorry?” Snickers sounded around her. Her stomach boiled with shame, even though none of the girls seemed malicious in laughing at her accent, more amused.

“Who’s your favorite?” asked Scarlet, batting her eyelashes and posing as if on a magazine fold-out.

Brooke hummed, a smile on her face. “I think Plastique’s my favorite.” Scarlet scowled but the rest of the crew broke into raucous laughter.

A sound blared from an unseen source. It was like the blaring of a storm siren and chiming of a church bell and like the screeching of some ancient caged monster all in one. All the girls on the steps of the library packed themselves up and started heading back toward the main block of classrooms.

During their necromancy class, Yvie had gone over Brooke’s roster and drawn out a map in her journal of where her classes were. That way, even if she didn’t have a friend in her class, she’d be able to find her way.

“Where you headed next, Canada?” asked Vanessa, buttoning her shirt back up.

Brooke tried not to stare at Vanessa’s fingers as she fumbled with her buttons. “I, uh… Potions and Tinctures.”

Vanessa lit up. “Oh hey! With Espejo? I have her in the morning, she’s my first class. Gimme your notebook.” Brooke grabbed her multi-subject Five Star monster of a spiral notebook and handed it to Vanessa, who slipped out a beaten and stained paper journal. Vanessa flipped to one of the last pages in her book and lay it on top of a blank page of Brooke’s and whispered something with her eyes closed. Opening her eyes, she pulled her notes away and proudly flipped her hair, showing off a note-copying charm that would have come in super handy had Brooke known about it before she graduated.

Brooke shook her head in amazement. “How is it you all aren’t the ones teaching classes? You know way more useful spells and charms than I suspect you were ever properly taught.”

Vanessa smirked and opened her arms. “We’re the kids of the future.” She turned to head to her next class, but Brooke lurched forward and grabbed her by the arm.

Vanessa spun around, ending up within breathing distance from Brooke. Her mouth hung slightly open, and suddenly she wanted to close that distance between them… “You missed a button,” Brooke blurted.

She was pointing at Vanessa’s chest, where, sure enough, lined up with the bottom of her bra was a missed button. As a result, the whole lower part of Vanessa’s top was askew. “Shit.”

Brooke took a step back, looking away. “Thought you should know.”

Vanessa pulled her blazer closed across her chest and started walking backwards into the crowd. “Thank you, really.”

Brooke nodded stiffly and smiled, holding up a hand to say bye.

“See you around!” Vanessa screamed over the roar of the crowd.

Brooke’s voice was weak. “See ya…” She just breathed deeply for a few moments, watching Vanessa disappear into the crowd.

“Oh sweetie,” came a voice from behind Brooke. She spun around to see Nina, half a head taller than her, and looking down at her with pity. “You’ve got it bad.”

Brooke cleared her throat. “I don’t know what you’re talking aboot.”

Nina placed a hand on Brooke’s shoulder. _“Everyone_ loves Vanessa,” Nina told her. “And they fear her wrath. Maybe hang back on falling too hard too quick, until you see her ugly side.”

Brooke gave Nina a look. She seriously doubted that Vanessa had an ugly side. “And how do I know you’re not just trying to get me to back off so you can date her?”

Nina smiled, and something started happening in Brooke’s chest. And her cheeks. Nina leaned in close. “Being threatened by me is like being threatened by one of those Good Boys.” She winked. And walked away.

 

After potions, Brooke had a free hour, then a meeting at sundown for Care of Magical Creatures. This one she had with Scarlet, and she was kind of surprised to see Scarlet actually able to stay awake during it. They sat or kneeled in the grass, watching the creature Mr Gaines had humanely caught for them. “So,” Scarlet twirled her hair around her finger. “You’re most of the way through your first day. Anyone you think is cute yet?”

Brooke couldn’t hide the look on her face. Scarlet squealed in delight -- aggravating the weird badger thing they were supposed to be observing. Scarlet lowered her voice to avoid being yelled at, but bumped Brooke’s shoulder. “Tell me tell me tell meee.” Brooke shook her head. Scarlet leaned across Brooke’s lap. “Does she have sky blue eyes and a totes rockin’ bod?”

Brooke cracked up, only to be chastised by the instructor. On her first day too! She couldn’t help but shut down after that, doing the assignment and giving Scarlet the cold shoulder. Scarlet’s face when Brooke shrugged her off was hurt, sad, something else… Brooke knew Scarlet was going to be a bad influence, get her in trouble. But there was something so appealing about her. She had just this energy… like Brooke wished she had Scarlet’s attitude. But she didn’t. And they walked to their dorms in awkward, painful silence.

The dorm was a long, single story building cut up into sections. There was one communal bathroom at one end of the hall, and the main entrance on the other far wall. There were at least ten rooms in the building, but only eight were occupied; Brooke didn’t know why she had to share a room if there were empty ones. That’s something she decided to ask someone when she got the chance.

Scarlet knocked on Nina West’s door. As the Hall Rep, Nina had the privilege of getting a room to herself, twice the size of everyone else’s, which essentially boiled down to: she had room for a microwave, mini fridge, _and_ desk in her living quarters. Brooke turned to thank Scarlet, but the other girl had disappeared behind one of the doors.

Nina had her hair in curlers when she answered. “Hey Brooke, how was your first day? Come in -- you want some iced tea? I’m heating up some ravioli for dinner if you want some.”

Brooke felt like she should refuse, ready to collapse on a creaky twin bed and unpack her essentials for the night. But her stomach growled and her head was fuzzy, so she figured she could use a meal. So she nodded and sat in Nina’s desk chair, turned towards the center of the room where the 12th grader puttered around, her head always ducked slightly down against the sloping ceiling. She grabbed a metal and a plastic fork from a cluttered drawer and took a can out of her microwave. Fake pasta smell wafted into Brooke’s nose and she felt her stomach beg for sustenance. Nina giggled -- a truly delightful sound which instantly brought a smile to Brooke’s face -- and offered her the metal utensil.

“How accommodating,” said Brooke, taking the fork and stabbing the lukewarm excuse for food in her mouth. She moaned sinfully; canned ravioli had never tasted so good.

Nina chuckled at Brooke’s satisfied sound and speared a ravioli for herself. “Have an okay first day, angel?” she asked, sounding somehow matronly at only eighteen.

Brooke nodded, swallowed and lifted a broken noodle onto her fork. “Everyone is much nicer than I expected,” she said. “There’s just so many movies of American high schools that are full of bullies, but everyone has been pretty nice.” _If anything,_ she thought, _it’s me that hasn’t been the nicest._ She remembered Scarlet’s set jaw and the disappointment on RaJah's face this morning when Brooke had wanted to stop passing notes.

“Well,” said Nina, tucking food into her cheek so she could talk. “Being pretty certainly helps.” Brooke blushed, looking away. She stuffed her face so she would have an excuse to not acknowledge the compliment. Nina scoffed. “What -- it’s true, you can’t _not_ know what you do to people. Especially since most people here haven’t met a new person our age in at least eight months. Your face, your body, that accent, the way you hold yourself -- you know you’re the most wanted girl in school.”

Brooke stared into her lap. “Well I’m sure the novelty will wear off soon.”

Nina scoffed again, looking around the empty room for confirmation that she was really hearing this girl correctly. But seeing Brooke’s downcast face and slumped shoulders, Nina knew to drop the subject. Now wasn’t the time to give this gorgeous girl a reality check.

So she changed the subject. And Brooke relaxed into gossiping about different teachers and students, listening to all the tea Nina had to give her about what drama was attached to who, and who got expelled for sleeping with a TA, until eventually they heard the ear-splitting _hoot_ of a monster owl. “Aaand that’s curfew,” sighed Nina.

Brooke rubbed her eyes, got up on tired legs and let Nina lead her to her room. Her roommate Shuga was already in a nightshirt, her hair braided for sleep, purple tips curling with moisture. “Oh hey,” she said. Shuga wore glasses in the evening -- she must use contacts during the day. On top of the thin school-issued sheet and blanket, Shuga had one of those First Nations geometric shape blankets. She couldn’t help but sigh aloud when she realized what a good idea that was.

“What’s wrong?” asked Shuga, pulling her tan bare legs from under her covers.

“I just,” Brooke motioned toward her extra blanket. “Wish I’d thought of that.”

Shuga smiled and ran her hand over the hand-woven blanket. “Yeah, you figure a few things out once you go here long enough,” she said. Looking up, she asked Brooke, “You wanna borrow it?”

“What? Oh no, I couldn’t--”

Shuga was already pulling it from her bed. “Oh it’s no trouble at all. I run hot, especially at night--”

At the same time Brooke tried to refuse: “It’s yours, you don’t have to, I’m from Canada I’m used to--”

“Oh. My. God.” Shuga put her foot down, her tone sharpening. “You’re our GUEST! I’m offering you hospitality, you really refusing, bitch??”

That is when Brooke realized what the situation was, and, like a good guest, accepted Shuga’s nice fleece blanket being placed on her bed. “Thanks, really,” she said softly after a minute. “I… it’s been a long day.”

Shuga settled herself back into her bed, pulling out a book from between the mattress and the headboard. “‘Salright, honey,” said Shuga, passing it off. Then she looked over at Brooke, regarding her over the top of her glasses. “You’re not offended I called you a bitch, are you?” Brooke shook her head quickly. Shuga let out a relieved laugh. “‘Kay good, ‘cause that’s what all me and my girlfriends call each other, so. But some people don’t like that--”

“Yeah, no, I’m good.” Brooke flashed a smile so Shuga would know she wasn’t mad.

Shuga nodded, and returned her attention to her book.

And this was when Brooke realized the dorm room they were sharing contained two beds, a chest at the foot of each bed, and a small, freestanding closet to hang things. Her luggage was stacked on top of her storage chest, and her pajamas were inside her luggage. Which she would have to unpack. She groaned and lifted one bag onto the floor, which blocked the opening to the closet.

“Hm?” Shuga didn’t look up from her book this time.

“I don't wanna unpaaaaaack,” Brooke whined, flopping down on her bed.

Shuga licked her finger and turned a page. “Then don’t.”

“But I need my sleep clothes,” Brooke explained.

Shuga shrugged. “So sleep in your underwear.” Brooke cast a look at Shuga, who caught Brooke’s fierce eyebrow work through the corner of her eye. “It’s a sisterhood, Mary, we all got the same parts.”

Brooke thought about it. And she looked at her bags again. They seemed so huge in the dim light offered by the one bedside lamp they had between them. And she started unbuttoning her top. She slid her socks and skirt off, casting nervous glances to Shuga a few feet away. Turning around, Brooke started to undo her bra under her camisole.

Shuga turned another page. “You don’t have to turn around for my sake,” she said, never once looking up from her book. “Trust me, if I was interested, I’d be playing some strip tease music.”

Brooke couldn’t help but laugh at that, loosening up a bit. She pulled her bra out of the top of her undershirt and threw it at the closet. It fell on top of her bag, which she _would_ have to unpack tomorrow morning. “Do I wanna brush my teeth before bed?” she asked herself. Her mouth still kinda tasted like Chef Boyardee.

“Nah,” Shuga answered, slotting her book back into place behind her mattress. “Not like you’re kissing anyone in the morning.” She shifted so she was lying on her back, hands folded over her sternum, her pillow folded over itself for more neck support.

Brooke pulled back her covers and sat down. “I guess you’re right,” she sighed.

Shuga yawned. “I usually am.”

Brooke giggled and found herself having caught her roommate’s yawn. God, her body was so tired. The lamp turned itself off at 9:30 sharp. Before turning over and trying to go to sleep, she said to Shuga, “You know… I’ve never had a roommate. I think this is going to work out well though.”

Shuga kept her eyes closed. “It better,” she said. “‘Cause if it doesn’t, your ass is getting booted to the butterfly brigade.”

Brooke chuckled, but held her head up, confused. “Wait, who’s the butterfly brigade? Is that like the zebra thing, ‘cause I haven’t seen any butterfly pins.”

Shuga rolled over and lazily opened one eye. “It’s a joke we started making. Colonial Hall picked a house mascot but we call them the butterfly brigade because of this awful thing that happened on the last day of school last spring. I don’t have the energy to tell it tonight, but now butterflies are the unofficial mascot we assigned to the people with brown cows on their lapels.”

Brooke nodded and slid further under her covers. Shuga’s blanket was a comforting extra weight on her body. Her mind still buzzed with excitement from the day, and it took longer than usual to fall asleep -- long enough to overhear the adorable snoring sounds coming from Shuga’s bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is for the rare pair fic challenge and whenever I tell someone the premise, the immediate reaction is "orgy?" and no. Spoiler alert there will be no orgy in this one.


	2. "Leave me alone I woke up like two minutes ago"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Brooke's first full day begins. Nina's role as House Mother may be challenged with how Brooke takes pity on Ariel. Our exchange student bonds more with her roommate Shuga, and narrowly avoids having a panic attack in the breakfast line thanks to none other than Silky. Plus, she meets some interesting folks from the Butterfly Brigade.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this is the first half of what was intended to be chapter 2 but it got long so i cut it in half get ready for period talk, social anxiety, and hints at Brooke's past

The sounds of a wrapper being torn open echoed off the linoleum tiled walls. Ariel’s voice whined from inside one of the five stalls in the Patriotism Hall bathroom. “God, I swear it can’t be healthy to be losing this much blood on a monthly basis.”

Scarlet gave a smug laugh. “I remember those days.”

“It’s not nice to brag, Scar,” Yvie chided. “Just ‘cause your moms are down with the pill doesn’t mean everyone’s parents will sign on.”

“It’s messed up that you need your parents permission to get birth control here,” said Nina. “But there has to be some sort of special clinic you can go to -- they exist, they’re like a title… something.” She put up her hair into a messy bun and went to open the door, saying, “I’m gonna do some quick research. Until we find a way to keep you from getting anemic, Ariel, eat lots of leafy greens to keep your iron levels up.”

Ariel padded out of her stall and went to wash her hands. Looking at Nina in the mirror, she smiled meekly.

Heading out of the bathroom, Nina yelped, a breath away from running full-force into Brooke Lynn. “Shit!” exclaimed Nina. “Sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry,” cringed Brooke. Walking in, she received a few ‘good mornings’ from those gathered in the bathroom.

“How’d you sleep? Asked Silky, the quiet one from yesterday. She was staring at herself in the mirror, looking at her face for imperfections.

Brooke shook her head, letting out a long breath. She pulled a toothbrush out of a tiny bag and ran the bristles under the sink. “I had this nightmare where I was suddenly gigantically pregnant, so that was fun.”

Multiple girls let out empathetic noises. Scarlet tutted, “God, I fucking hate that dream.”

Yvie was methodically drawing eyeliner on her inside waterline of her eye and grimaced. “Has everyone had that dream? In mine bugs crawled out of my belly button.” A wave of horrified noises rippled through the room. Yvie hummed and leaned back from the mirror. “Yeah, I loved it.”

Brooke blasted a laugh, toothpaste and water falling out of her mouth. She turned her head at the sound of a soft moan from beside her. Immediately, a concerned look took over her face. It was Suspenders Girl from yesterday doubled over and holding herself against the bathroom counter. Fuck, what was her name? “Arielle, is it?” she asked, reaching out a hand toward the 10th grader’s shoulder.

“Ariel,” she nodded, lifting her head. Her face lacked color, but that may just be because Brooke was seeing her without makeup for the first time. “Are you feeling alright?”

Ariel offered a smile that looked more like a grimace. From behind Brooke, Silky spoke up, “Her Aunt Flo’s in town.”

Ra’Jah rolled her eyes and started putting away her toiletries into a small bag. “And if Ariel’s starting, that means the rest of us are ‘bout to get smacked with that train as well.”

“Mm. Not all of us.” Scarlet poked at a zit on her forehead.

“Lucky bitch,” sneered Ariel.

Brooke reached out toward Ariel, again not really touching her, just getting close. “So is it cramps, or…?”

“It’s _everything,”_ Ariel groaned.

Brooke curled her hand into a fist. Something about the girl, even though Brooke hadn’t known her a full 24 hours, she just wanted to protect her and take care of her. “If you’re willing, for cramps I know some simple exercises that usually help me.” Ariel huffed a breath out, the look on her face saying she’d rather do anything but exercise right now, but was in enough pain to where she’d be willing to try anything. There wasn’t enough space to do anything in the bathroom, so Brooke led Ariel just outside into the hallway.

“So we’re gonna start on our stomachs, lying on the floor…” Ariel miserably followed Brooke’s directions, obeying as the exchange student told her to reach back and grab her ankles. “So this is the bow pose, stretches the whole front of the body, relieves a lot of issues with the airways as well as period pain and backache.”

Ariel let out a long breath from her mouth. “Doesn’t feel as awful as it did before,” she said.

Brooke smiled, and after a minute led her them both into camel pose, kneeling and reaching back to grab the ankles. “This one also stretches out the back and belly, the lower part as opposed to bow pose…”

As Brooke continued, she was unaware that she’d gained an audience. Nina had finished checking her magical, internet-enabled book (which was a life saver by the way) and came to tell Ariel about plans for the weekend, when she found Brooke Lynn leading a one-on-one yoga class in the hallway. The hall rep stood watching, open-mouthed for a good while before a door opened nearby and A’Keria stuck her head out. “Girl, what are you doing just in the middle of the…” her voice trailed off. A’Keria stared at what Nina was staring at for a moment, then stuck her head back into her room. “Hey Ness? You’re gonna wanna see this.”

“It better be good, whatever it--”

Nina, A’Keria, and Vanessa looked to each other, and to Brooke Lynn, and back at each other. “Why…” started one. Vanessa, after staring for a solid minute, looked back at her friends one last time before crossing the hall and plopping herself down on the floor five feet to Brooke Lynn’s right. Stretching out her left leg in front of her and tucking her right foot into her left thigh, Vanessa arched forward, stretching to grab her left foot. Finally close enough to hear what Brooke was saying about the pose, she started to understand why they were doing yoga in the hall.

“This is a spine stretch, which helps with the back muscles, relieving things like headaches, fatigue, and mild depression and anxiety, some of the things that come with being on your period.” Brooke leaned back and switched sides to do the stretch again, and finally noticed Vanessa following along five feet away. “Oh, hey.”

Vanessa continued on with the stretch. “Yeah, we saw you doin’ some weird shit at six in the morning, so I figured I’d join and see what the fuck the reason was.” Ariel also finished out the pose, flashing Vanessa a smile from Brooke’s left side. “Miss Ariel here is our mine chicken,” said Vanessa.

Brooke and Ariel sported matching confused expressions. “Um, what?”

Vanessa pulled out of the knee forward bend and started in on a different stretch. “In the coal mines and stuff. They’d have a chicken or a fuckin… parakeet to be like, ‘oh, if that bird dies, we better get the fuck out’ so like the bird dies first so they know they’re gonna end up like the bird soon enough... why are y’all lookin’ at me like that??”

Brooke started cackling. “I-- I get what you’re saying it’s just… the road you took to get there was…” she shook her head, laughing. “It makes sense though!” she added, seeing Vanessa’s expression droop, afraid Brooke was making fun of her.

Ariel pulled herself off the floor. “You have a beautiful and unique brain, ‘Nessa, and we love you for that.”

“Thanks, Ariel.” Vanessa smiled slightly and nodded at the underclassmen as she made her way back into her room to get dressed for the day.

Brooke pulled herself up, and held out her hand to Vanessa, who took it, and nodded silent thanks at Brooke. “Hey,” Brooke stopped her before she could go back to her room. “I really wasn’t trying to make fun of you.”

Vanessa gave a shake of her head. “Yeah, no, I know, it’s just early,” she offered a quick little smile and tapped Brooke on the arm. “Haven’t had caffeine yet -- or food.” Walking away, she turned around and for the second time in the past day, walked backward while talking. It was something Brooke considered an odd thing to do, and Vanessa did it as if it was second nature, as if she feared walking into nothing. “See you at breakfast!”

Brooke held up a hand. “See you.”

She returned to a dorm room that looked almost exactly like it had last night. Only one of her bags had been unzipped -- the one she’d rifled through for her toiletries and pajamas. She’d switched into a purple-grey set of cotton bedclothes, complete with button-up nightshirt and plaid pants. The suitcase still unzipped, Brooke stared it down, willing it to unpack itself.

She heard Shuga opening her trunk behind her, and Brooke kept herself from peeking behind her at what her roommate was working with -- maybe comparing their bodies. She’d always wanted to be tan, but with he hair and eyes, it just wasn’t going to look good on her. Brooke cringed at the memory of looking at herself in the mirror at fourteen after having overdone at-home-spray tan on herself… in the winter… and choosing to show up to class like that. God, if she had been going to this school, she just knew all the girls would have completely roasted her. As it was, she did get a decent amount of snide remarks, but nothing direct -- it was Canada, after all.

Hearing Shuga sit on her bed to pull on socks, Brooke decided it was alright to look again. “Remember in Mary Poppins where they clean up the nursery just by snapping their fingers? God, I wish you could just...” She snapped with her right hand, trying to envision her clothes flying out of the suitcase and neatly folding themselves inside her trunk, hanging themselves on the wall pegs. Opening her eyes, she saw no real change.

Shuga made a small noise as she pulled on a lace-up dress shoe -- a flat -- and reached for its twin. “Welp. We got a lot of spells for a lot of things, but some shit we still gotta do for ourselves,” she said. “Take off all your makeup at once, snap. Make your bed at once, snap. Pack your bag, snap. Summon your lost keys into your pocket, snap.” She stood up and went over to Brooke’s unzipped bag. “Unpacking? Nah.” She unzipped Brooke’s suitcase for her and threw it open. “Putting on all your makeup at once? Nah.” Shuga looked at Brooke Lynn as she leaned over her bag. “If I help, you could be moved in by breakfast.”

Brooke fought back the urge to resist Shuga’s offer. Shuga seemed like a genuinely kind and generous person, and she really had no real reason to refuse her. She nodded her consent, and the two got to unpacking. Shuga took out Brooke’s one formal dress and pair of dress pants and hung them up in the teeny wardrobe. Then she pulled out shoes: a pair of sneakers and one pair of boots. While Brooke folded her underwear Konmari style and piled them up in her trunk, Shuga pulled out a yellow package and stared accusingly at Brooke. “Um, the fuck are these??”

Brooke’s Face lit up and she reached for the package. “I completely forgot I packed Coffee Crisps!” she exclaimed. “They’re THE best candy bar in the entire world.”

Shuga hummed skeptically. “Mm, I sincerely doubt that since I happen to know for a fact that Bubulubus are the best.”

Brooke playfully tossed her long hair over her shoulder and held her nose high. “Well _I’ve_ never heard of them, so _clearly_ you’re mistaken.”

“Bet, bitch.” Shuga hauled herself to her feet and rifled through her trunk -- the inside of which was surprisingly messy given how clean and precise so much of Shuga’s character was.  She pulled out a gallon ziplock bag of half-opened candy wrappers that seemed to have some chocolate covered patties inside. “Now, this is my period/homesickness stash, so I’m only picking you off a piece, but I swear on my grandmother’s life, if you don’t love it I will punch you in your pretty little face.”

Brooke smiled coyly, bypassing the compliment in favor of competition. “So the stakes are my face?”

Shuga pursed her lips. “Nah, I don’t actually have the heart to ruin a work of art like that, BUT! If I win, you have to go through the breakfast line for me.”

“And if the more likely thing happens and I win?”

“I’ll do your first load of laundry.”

“Only the first?” Brooke scoffed.

“Dude, it’s a piece of candy, I wanted you to wait in line _one day,_ it’s not that serious.”

Brooke pouted. She’d been having fun. Now, Shuga presented her with a piece of what looked kinda like an Oreo but also like an ice cream sandwich, and was somehow chilled, despite having been inside a ziplock bag in a trunk (oh, magic, duh). Brooke, in turn, yanked a Coffee Crisp out of its packaging and broke off half. They switched treats, toasted, and chomped down.

Immediately, Brooke was confused by a tart-yet-sweet punch in her mouth, even though it was balanced out with the familiar tastes of chocolate and marshmallow. She put her hand in front of her mouth before asking, “Is that strawberry in this?”

Shuga nodded, her face deep in thought. “I was expecting it to be more bitter, since it’s coffee,” she said. “But the.. The vanilla and milk chocolate actually balance it out pretty well.”

Brooke swallowed some of the candy. “And this is called Bubu…”

“Bubulubu,” Shuga answered, reaching behind her to show Brooke the packaging. “I gotta say I don’t hate yours, I can definitely see me just pounding a whole package of these in one sitting.”

Brooke nodded excitedly. “I know, right? They’re like my comfort food. And yours I feel like I wanna dunk in coffee or tea or something.”

Shuga tilted her head from side to side, swallowing the last of the Coffee Crisp. “They aren’t the best for dunking, but I can see that.”

After a minute of searching their mouths for leftover sweets, Brooke and Shuga exchanged a look. “So who won?”

Brooke thought a minute. “How about, I’ll stand in line for you _and_ you do my laundry?”

Shuga cackled. “I love it, so we’re both losers.”

“But we both won too,” Brooke insisted.

Shuga shook her head, smiling. “So fucking Canadian.”

Brooke beamed and put on a ridiculous exaggeration of her own accent. “I am, eh?”

Shuga laughed, shaking her head, and turned back toward their forgotten task. “We got ten minutes to breakfast, you gotta be at the front of the line if you’re gonna get me my Chilaquiles.”

Brooke turned to Shuga with furrowed brows. “Will they give you that? Was that even English?”

Shuga tossed Brooke’s deodorant at her. “They’ll give you _anything,_ honey,” said Shuga. “So long as you can give them a recipe at the beginning of the year, they can make anything absolutely perfect.”

Brooke sighed, their snack a few minutes ago waking up her hungry stomach. “I want one of those American breakfasts,” she mused. “With everything -- fruit and eggs and toast and waffles and bacon--”

“Not Canadian bacon,” Shuga clarified. “If you want the sliced ham, you gotta specify.”

“God, I forget it’s so weird you call back bacon Canadian bacon.”

“Why do you call it back bacon -- it’s pork loin. And what do you call American bacon, then?”

“That’s _side_ bacon.”

“But the meat comes from the belly not the side!” exclaimed Shuga with frustration. “My cousins are ranchers, I know this shit.”

“I don’t doubt that, but you’re assuming people name shit in a way that makes sense and they clearly don’t.” Brooke’s statement carried an air of finality. “Anyway, once I deliver you your… I’m sure delicious traditional breakfast that you will teach me how to say correctly, do I take it back to the steps where we ate lunch yesterday?”

“Uh, no actually we sit somewhere different in the morning, we sit beneath the big clock tower, you won’t miss it. With any luck, Ness and Silk will be in a competition to see who can scream-laugh the loudest.”

 

The breakfast lineup in the cafeteria proved to Brooke why her new friends stayed as far away as possible. The roar of everyone shouting over everyone to be heard reminded Brooke of a particularly angry hockey game, but in a far smaller space. She fully understood why Shuga would do anything to avoid fighting this crowd of hangry teens. As the line moved forward, it became obvious that the one line split into two lines: one for self-serve buffet style layout of all different kinds of toast, cereal, fruit, oatmeal, breakfast meats and potatoes, and the other line was for ordering made-to-order dishes like omelettes, waffles, pancakes, etc. Brooke noticed more people getting through the self-serve quicker, and decided that’s where she’d be getting most of her food, once she first fulfilled her duty to Shuga.

Standing in line, Brooke took in a deep breath through her nose and held it, trying to ground herself against the roar in her ears, the sheer force of the vibrations soaking into her body. She ground her teeth together and beat back against the building desire to turn and run, skipping breakfast all together, replacing nutrition with exercise… _oh this is bad_ , she thought. _I need to get out of here._

No sooner had the thought crossed her mind, someone tapped her on the shoulder. She was at the front. Brooke let out a huge breath and jogged up to the counter. The being behind the counter was greyish-green, and immediately Brooke knew it was one of the magical races -- one of the kinds of goblin that lived in the pacific northwest, mostly. Brooke cleared her anxious throat and yelled the word Shuga had taught her. It felt clunky on her inexperienced tongue, but the goblin woman nodded and pointed Brooke further down the line. Amazingly fast, Shuga’s ‘breakfast nachos’ were served up on a tray. Brooke was immediately relieved of much of her anxiety, only to find herself looking for an in at the self-serve line.

“AY CANADA!”

Brooke turned toward a very loud voice yelling at her. Only after Silky waved her arms in the air and yelled again did she realize that’s who had called to her. Relieved to see a friendly face, she fast-walked over to her house-mate, who invited Brooke to pull food ahead of her. “Thank you,” said Brooke, grabbing a couple slices of dry rye toast and a small ceramic plate to add to her and Shuga’s tray.

“Ain’t nothin’,” answered Silky. She pulled Frosted Flakes and sliced pineapple. “Comin’ over here to get me some hash browns.”

Brooke followed Silky’s chattering, type A personality with comfort and ease, trailing her like a desperate puppy. Once they were nearing the end of the self-serve, Silky looked at Brooke’s tray, saying “Where’s your food?”

“Oh, um.” Brooke had been in fight-or-flight for a good while now, and had completely missed most of the options. “I guess I forgot,” she said, a false smile on her lips.

Silky put a warm hand on Brooke’s shoulder. “Shug is a shady bitch making you fend for yourself in the line on your first day, you look like you wanna run for the hills.” Brooke looked away bashfully. “I’m going back in for drinks anyway, what you want?”

Brooke pursed her lips. _Nothing,_ she fought herself from saying. Silky wasn’t going to accept that, and they both knew it. “I guess I’d appreciate some fruit -- actually?” she cut herself off, taking advantage of a sudden memory. “If you could get your hands on some real maple syrup and a soft-boiled egg, I’d be willing to be your slave for a week.”

Silky smiled and raised an eyebrow. “We don’t do slavery anymore, bitch,” she said. “I know the magical world is behind on the times, but--”

Brooke scream-laughed, almost losing Shuga’s breakfast in the process. “Oh, shit,” said Brooke, pushing pieces of onion, chicken, and tortilla back onto the plate.

Silky let out a contemplative hum and started placing things from her tray onto Brooke’s, being careful to keep it balanced until she had a hand free. Once she’d done that, Silky mouthed an incantation over Brooke’s tray, and the Canadian felt the plastic lift itself out of her hands, balancing itself. She shot Silky an approving look. “Work!” she held up her hand for a high-five.

Silky slapped Brooke’s hand surprisingly hard, making the Canadian laugh in surprise. “Alright, you go wait for me outside, I’ll walk you to the clock.”

 

Brooke was off her game today, her head stuck in a cloud. It was like she was stuck in a daydream, and she couldn’t pull herself into the here and now. She was thankful that Silky jabbered all the way to the clock tower, where the rest of Clan Zebra chatted, most people still in their pajamas. Vanessa, had slipped on a pair of leggings under her sleep shirt before heading to breakfast. Brooke didn’t know if she could stop herself from staring at the other girl’s bare legs in public. Scarlet, however, wore neon boy short underwear and a red tank top. Her naturally russet hair she had pulled into a stocking bun, showing off as much of her skin as possible. “Hey, Scar,” said Silky through a mouthful of food. “Hold out your arm, Brooke, you too.”

Scarlet and Brooke exchanged skeptical glances. Brooke held out a fist, and Scarlet did the same. Silky came over and pushed their arms to be side by side. Vanessa, Shuga, and Ra’jah all leaned in to get a closer look. “What is this, a White Off?” cracked Vanessa.

Silky blew at one of her many long, curly hairs. “Mirror mirror, in front of my face, who’s the palest in this place?”

Brooke couldn’t help but cackle, looking to Vanessa to see that smile again.

Shuga, who had a headband keeping her still-damp hair out of her face, said, “Scar’s got more beige-y undertones, I think miss Brooke Lynn is the whiter of the two.”

Nina stood up. “Oh, if we’re comparing whiteness, I’ll play.”

The house rep didn’t have to have her arm in the race for long before Ra’Jah noted, “Nah, you’ve got more natural bronze and pink undertones than either of them.”

Scarlet clapped her hands and beamed at Brooke Lynn. “Congratulations, you’re the whitest out of all of us! Hope you enjoy your Starbucks and salads!”

Brooke snorted. “Fuck all the way off. I hate Starbucks.”

“Mmm, sure, Jan.” Everyone laughed at Nina’s reference.

“Next thing I know you’ll be telling me you get that figure all from genetics.” That was Shuga.

Brooke’s anxiety started thrumming in her body, like there was another being in her chest, wanting to get out. She smiled uncomfortably. She sipped some orange juice. They kept talking about her body. Fuck, if she didn’t get the subject changed, she was gonna-- “So Ariel!” Brooke practically yelled.

The underclassmen flinched, surprised at Brooke’s volume and at being suddenly brought out of a daydream. “Yeah?”

Brooke cleared her throat and leaned around someone’s legs to make eye contact with her. “How’re you feeling since that yoga?”

Ariel twirled some of her hair around her finger. “I, uh, better than I-- Nina gave me some naproxen with breakfast, so, I’ve just been willing them to start working… I did do that boat pose again in my room, that helped.”

Brooke smiled. “I’m glad.”

“Question: Canada, how do you know shit about yoga?” asked Silky. Brooke was starting to realize that this loud, Type A personality was Silky’s usual state, and that her arrival yesterday had probably thrown Silky off, made her quieter than she usually would have been.

Brooke pulled her knees to her chest and curled her arms around her legs. “I started doing it years ago, really got into it proper in the last two years. I used to get up at the ass-crack of dawn to do yoga and like, center myself.”

“Why’d you stop?” Shuga’s face was unreadable.

Brooke took in a deep breath and shrugged. “I don’t know. Fell out of habit, I guess.”

“Are y’all asking our guest to lead a six am yoga class every day?” asked Vanessa. “‘Cause I’m lettin’ you know right now, I’m out.”

Brooke started laughing, relieved that she could let go of some tension. “I wouldn’t do that to you, I promise.”

“‘Kay, GOOD!” Vanessa’s voice had taken on that loud squawk again. Brooke imagined a talking doll version of Vanessa where you pulled the string and it’s just her when she randomly starts screaming in the middle of a sentence.

The devil owl cried again -- the most aggravating school bell in history -- signaling the end of breakfast and twenty minutes to the start of the first block of classes. Looking around to say good-bye to everyone, Brooke realized something -- some _one_ \-- was missing. “Hey, anybody seen Yvie?”

“Yvie?” echoed Vanessa, also looking around.

“Allegedly it’s some kind of lunar calendar day.” It was A’Keria who had spoken, making Brooke realize she hadn’t heard her speak all morning. A’Keria gave an eyeroll that was somehow also a side-eye. “That girl is always up to some weird-ass bullshit, I tell you.”

Brooke made a mental note to ask Yvie what she had been up to when she saw her in third period

 

Brooke had missed her first class yesterday, arriving at the end of first period. She found not a single familiar face in American Magic, which disheartened her, but she set that winning smile on her face anyway, and approached an empty seat in the half-full classroom. There was a girl with gorgeously smooth-looking skin and doll-like rounded features doodling in a notebook, her cheek in her hand. Her lapel sported one of those brown cows Shuga had told her about last night. Brooke gulped.

Placing her hand on the empty desk next to the girl, Brooke asked in her sweetest, most non-threatening Canadian voice, “Hi, sorry, is someone gonna sit in this seat?”

The girl looked up at Brooke, the whites of her eyes stark against her brown skin and brown eyes. In fact, her eyes were on Brooke for a _while,_ looking at her as if trying to puzzle out in her mind where she knew Brooke from. It was long enough to make Brooke back away slightly. As if realizing the awkwardness she’d created, the girl blinked and put down her pen, turning her personality on like a switch. “Well hey there, no, no one’s sitting there, go on ahead.” She continued chattering as Brooke relaxed into the desk. “Didn’t mean to stare at you just then, I just couldn’t figure out if you were my friend trying to play a joke on me -- you two look really similar actually, you’ll see when she comes in, she’s always running late. I’m Asia.”

Brooke smiled and shook Asia’s outstretched hand. “Like the continent?” she asked, eager to ease the tension.

“Mm-hm,” Asia nodded. Her jaw was so round and so feminine, her head was too -- and adding to the roundness of her features was her hair, which she kept very short to her scalp, in a kind of Afro. Brooke noted that a lot of students put little effort into their hair, short of keeping it clean and out of their faces -- as was in the dress code. She supposed it made sense, given the early start times of American schools, to not want to get up any earlier than absolutely necessary to do one’s hair or makeup before class.

“What you lookin’ at?” questioned Asia.

Oops. Brooke had been staring. “I just-- your skin is _so_ gorgeous and smooth looking.” Asia smiled and pretended she’d never been complimented before. Brooke continued to low-key worship her skin, chattering about all the spells the students at King Academy knew and did Asia have an acne-away spell? By the time Asia answered that no, she just had good genetics, and thank you for noticing and being so sweet, two other girls with brown cow pins had made their way into the classroom and over to Brooke and Asia.

The shorter of the two girls had a slightly darker complexion compared to Asia. She had hair somewhat like Asia’s -- kept short and natural, only this girl’s hair reminded Brooke more of black dandelion fluff. Her face was squatter than Asia’s, her cheeks more rounded. Her eyes were large, expressive in a doll-like way. The taller, paler of the two had wavy, honey-brown hair past her collarbone, and her dress shirt had been haphazardly buttoned, flashes of sand-colored skin peeking through. This girl had foregone a camisole under the see-through uniform top, bringing her choice of electric green bra into serious question.

It, of course, was the first thing Asia pointed out. “Girl, why do you have on a _neon green_ bra when you know damn well our uniforms are see-through?”

“Just what I asked her.” The shorter girl slid easily into the seat behind Brooke.

The tall girl -- who, it turned out, had an adorable dusting of freckles across her nose and cheeks -- slumped into the seat behind Asia and sighed. “Leave me alone, I woke up like two minutes ago.” Her voice was surprisingly gravelly, though, Brooke Lynn noted, that could just be the sleep in her voice.

Asia leaned away from the sleepy brunette and grabbed for her bag. “You didn’t brush your damn teeth, knowing you were gonna be breathin’ on me for over an hour,” she chastised. “Fuck, I’m out of gum -- May-may, you got any?”

Brooke grabbed the fresh packet she’d opened after breakfast and offered it to the brunette. “You can have some of mine.”

She regarded Brooke with confused brown eyes, slowly, suspiciously reaching out to grab a stick from the package. “Thanks…” she said, uncertain. “Asia, who is this?”

Asia threw her head back, touching her face. “God, I’m so rude. Kam, May, this is Brooke Lynn. remember how they talked about getting a new exchange student?” Her friends nodded. “Yeah, this is her, she’s from Canada, she said nice things to me earlier, don’t scare her away.”

Her friends mocked offense, but introduced themselves anyway. The shorter girl behind Brooke called herself Mayhem “because I always end up causing some” and the girl Brooke had given her gum to was called Kameron. They couldn’t get to chatting too much, because soon Instructor Asea joined them and launched into a deconstruction of what plants in the local ecosystem were historically used for what purposes.

For a few questions, Brooke actually managed to call out the right answers, as she had just done an independent study on herbalism before they would let her graduate early. Every time she answered a question correctly, in addition to getting the Good Noodle buzz she was used to, Brooke felt looks being exchanged around her. Asia would turn to Mayhem and say something with just her eyes. Brooke couldn’t see Mayhem, but Kameron’s wavy mop of unbrushed hair turned to indicate she was looking in Mayhem’s direction. For the second time, Brooke was back in middle school, knowing there was some information being passed around about her but not knowing whether she was being laughed at or not. The evil little voice from the cafeteria was back, and she pulled her blazer closed and slid down in her chair, trying to become smaller.

When Mr Asea released them to work in pairs on a worksheet, Kameron leaned over her desk, her chest on her arms as she called Brooke’s attention with her eyes. “Hey, Brooke, right?” Brooke nodded silently, her face still placid. Kameron’s lower lip was bigger than her upper lip, by a lot. Brooke noticed this when Kameron smirked. “You’re smart,” noted Kameron.

Brooke chewed at her bottom lip, staring into Kam’s desk. She shrugged.

“Hey, girl, Brooke Lynn,” Asia’s voice was concerned. She leaned down to try and catch Brooke’s eye. “You okay?”

Brooke squeezed her eyes shut, then open again. She took in a breath and pulled herself into the correct seated posture. “Yeah. of course.” her voice came out breathy, hollow sounding. She flashed a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. She wanted to go home.

Asia leaned back, her face contemplative. She hadn’t decided if she believed Brooke’s facade yet. “How’d you sleep your first night?”

Brooke pushed hair behind her ear. “Allright, I guess,” she answered. “I didn’t get to sleep until later than normal, but I think that’s to be expected, with the excitement and all.”

“What house are you?” Mayhem’s voice made Brooke turn around in her chair. “Or have they got you up in some fancy apartment with a bathroom all to yourself?”

Brooke let out a small laugh. “No, I’m in a dorm -- I don’t remember the name but it’s the one with the zebra mascot.”

All three girls looked some level of disappointed. That made Brooke smile, at least. “Is there some rivalry between the different dorms?”

Asia sighed. “Not really -- I mean there’s a little, but not that much.” she rubbed her forehead. “You know Vanessa? Vanessa Mateo?” Brooke felt a tingle in her chest. “She used to be in our house, but sometimes administration just transfers people. Don’t get to see as much of her as we’d like anymore, y’know?”

“I can say hi to her for you,” offered Brooke.

“I _so_ wish you were in our house,” pouted Mayhem. “You’re nice. And quiet. And smart.”

“Three for three,” Kameron added, her voice dull. “Don’t get a lot of those in our house.”

“Don’t get me wrong,” said Asia. “We have personality in spades, but where it counts? You can’t count on another house member to have the answers or have done the assignment at all really. Except Mayhem.”

“Hey,” said Mayhem. “Not every time. Sometimes I get lazy.”

Brooke pouted, empathizing with her new friends. “Well, I saw Vanessa do this charm yesterday,” she said, keeping it vague since the instructor was eyeing them, knowing they weren’t talking about the assignment. “Maybe I could get her to teach me it? So I can at least help you out with the information? If not, I have a free period before dinner, if there’s a place you wanna meet up?”

The Brown Cow Crew again shared a number of glances, before ultimately deciding they could meet Brooke in the library during her free period. Kameron was going to have to skip class to meet, but she insisted it wasn’t a big deal since “that instructor grades only on test scores anyway.”

 

Brooke couldn’t focus during the class she shared with the others from her house. Her mind was abuzz with Kameron and Asia.

“Earth to Brooke Lynn!” Brooke felt something hit the back of her head lightly, then hit the floor. Looking to where the thing fell, she realized it was a wadded-up piece of notebook paper, like the one she had passed notes on the day before. Uncrumpling the note, she saw big block letters scrawled haphazardly: ** Hey Brooke You’re Really In Your Head Something Wrong???  **Followed by a doodled face with a slight frown.

Brooke looked back at Vanessa, meeting her concerned face and pursed lips for only a split second, still fearful of getting chewed out by another teacher. She turned back around and penned a message back:  _I know I’m in my head a lot today, I’m okay though, I’m not mad at anyone, just a little spacey._ She followed her message with a laughing face with a stuck out tongue and pretended to reach for something on the floor while she held out her nicely folded-up note.

When the devil-owl released them from second period, Vanessa stayed behind to talk to Brooke before leaving. “I get you had a big day yesterday and it’s a lot to get used to -- shit I wouldn’t even have been awake at six if I was you -- but listen, we do these get-togethers, the girls in our house, and one is happening tonight. I think it’d be good for them to get to know you.”

Brooke pulled her bag onto her shoulder and tried to keep a placid smile on her face. “Sure thing, as long as it doesn’t go too late since we have class tomorrow.”

Vanessa’s eyes glinted with secret knowledge. “I… think we got you covered there.” Turning to leave, she paused and turned back toward Brooke on her heel. “You wanna walk with me or what?”

Brooke kicked herself into gear, her heart jumping in her chest. Following Vanessa down the hall, she found herself at a loss for breath. “So, what usually goes down at these get-togethers?” she asked.

Vanessa scanned the hall, looking for teachers or anyone else who might get them in trouble just overhearing them. “Oh, just the usual, gals being pals and all that good shit. Nina uses the student-faculty portkey to pick up pizza, we talk shit, drink bubbly water and go to sleep by nine-thirty.” She beamed.

Brooke Lynn nodded slowly, getting the message loud and clear. “Sounds fun.” More time with Vanessa? Pizza? What more could she want? “Oh!” she exclaimed. Vanessa actually jumped in surprise. Brooke blushed and stifled and awkward laugh before explaining, “I have first period with your old housemates, Asia, Kameron, and May. They said hi, they miss you.”

Vanessa’s face lit up. Brooke wished she could bottle the way Vanessa’s expression changed, how it made Brooke’s chest feel. If she could bottle that feeling, make a potion mimic it, she’d have created a cure for depression. She wasn’t even listening to the words the other girl was saying as she was recounting stories from her first year with Brown Cow Crew. Just watching Vanessa’s eyes alight and her small frame bouncing on the balls of her feet with delight… Nina was right. Brooke had it bad.


	3. Why did her tits feel strange?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reanimating the dead is hard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for mention of a character having had experience w/ an eating disorder. Not shown explicitly, and its name isnt spoken, but you Know what they're talking about so just so you know.

Necromancy was full of students who wanted to raise armies of the dead to stomp all over their enemies, but it turned out, the transition from making something dead un-dead was much more difficult than the average student thought. Yvie told Brooke that the amount of work and precision  involved in the art of necromancy was what chased off the original thirty-four students in the course to its present eleven. Gargaro-Magaña -- or, as Brooke was permitted to call her, GM -- said she was happier with a smaller class size. She said it encouraged better pupil-instructor bonding, which was supposed to be a contributing factor to a necromancer’s success or failure. If that were true, Brooke wondered, with all the time Yvie and Instructor Gargaro spent chit-chatting, why Yvie was still pretty bad at reanimating the deceased.

They were working on Large Spiders today. Limp, hairy legs curled around a fuzzy body on tabletops around the classroom. The dead creature was twice the size of Brooke Lynn’s fist as it was, and usually she wasn’t a fan of spiders, but perhaps this one’s being dead was the reason she felt so calm. That, and Yvie being next to her. Somehow, Brooke felt like nothing could go too wrong if Yvie was there.

Brooke stared into the arachnid’s overblown abdomen. No matter how many times she looked from the anatomical diagram in her book, to the non-living thing in front of her, she couldn’t get the feel of it’s insides, couldn’t imagine her magical energy reaching out and forcing life back into its… heart? The area labeled ‘heart’ on the diagram didn’t look to Brooke like a heart. Did it contract to pump spider-blood through its open circulatory system? Did it go thump-thump like a mammal heart? If only they could practice on mice, thought Brooke Lynn, then maybe they’d have better luck.

The Canadian rubbed the space between her eyes. “You having any breakthroughs?” she asked Yvie.

The other girl’s naturally large features pulled into a scowl. “Nothing. I’m getting nothing. And we have...” She checked the grandfather clock next to the door. “48 minutes left of class.

“Fuck,” Brooke hissed.

“Hey,” cooed Yvie. “Where’s your optimistic Canadian spirit?”

Brooke poked the spider’s abdomen. “There.”

Yvie nodded. “Seems pretty dead.”

“Seems to be.” Brooke flung hair over her shoulder.

“Like my will to live,” Yvie husked.

Brooke laughed uncomfortably. She’d used jokes like that once, and she didn’t like hearing it coming from Yvie. Instead of speaking up about it, though, she opted for silence.

“Did I just make you uncomfortable?”

“What? No.”

“Liar.” Yvie leaned back in her chair, regarding Brooke with a full up-and-down examination like she’d given her yesterday in the hall. “I joke about wanting to die and you freeze up, you uncomfortable with suicide jokes?”

Brooke tilted her head one way then the other. “I…” she shook her head. Vulnerability. Wall. Gotta pick a less intense level of the truth. She took a deep breath. “I don’t find them particularly funny. Not that I’m uptight or judgy in any way, I just…”

Yvie hummed noncommittally at first, suddenly breaking into alarm before exclaiming, “What the FUCK?!”

“Language, miss-- oh!” The instructor started to scold Yvie, only to break off at the sight that had the student swearing in the first place. Without warning, or even trying, Brooke and Yvie’s spider had kicked itself over onto its front, and now was backed against the painted cinder block wall, looking for ways to escape.

Seeing the things fuzzy legs moving again, Brooke’s entire body felt like she had tiny spiders crawling all over her arms, her legs, her neck. She let out a low sound of alarm, little more than a groan. When the Large Spider darted in one direction, Brooke shrieked and jumped back, falling over a desk as she did. Yvie, at the same time, hurled herself toward the spider. She tracked it across the front of the classroom, close enough to almost catch it at least three times. Finally, Yvie made like a baseball player and slid across the scuffed linoleum floor, her foot in front of her, blocking the spider’s exit. She crashed against the door just before the recently-dead, Roomba-sized spider could change directions, sliding right into her grasp.

At once, the class erupted into applause. Brooke had to catch her breath, from her fear and from the excitement of watching Yvie pull a stunt like that. Her body was buzzing, but in a good way now. Why did her tits feel strange?

As Brooke checked in with herself, the instructor made her way over to where Yvie was still lying on the floor. GM cast a spell and the spider returned to its natural, inanimate state. Then she looked at Yvie and smiled, extending a hand. “You wanna get off the floor now?”

Yvie smiled. “I sure would, ma’am. Unfortunately, I just fucked up my ankle doing that.”

Brooke made her way over to Yvie, holding her arms around her chest, a worried expression on her face.

“Ah! Brooke Lynn, my good partner,” said Yvie. That smile was still on her face, but it didn’t hide the pain behind it. Neither did the lighthearted tone she was trying and failing to pull off. “I think it’s time we pay Plastique a visit in the infirmary. Be a dear and help me up so you can walk me there.”

While Brooke squatted down to offer her arms and shoulders to help Yvie up, Instructor Gargaro-Magaña told them they got an A on the assignment, and to take their things with them, that she was letting them off of the rest of the class. Brooke looked aghast at Yvie when she heard that, but waited until they were out into the hall before bursting out with “Oh my GAWD have you ever had a teacher just LET YOU GO before??”

Yvie’s answer came by way of a choked sob and her bending over to grab the wall for extra support. “Shit,” Brooke breathed. Seeing Yvie did something to her gut. She had to… but she didn’t even know where the infirmary was. She was just fucking standing there in the middle of the hall, looking at her friend breathing heavily against a wall. “Okay.” her mouth started going before her mind could follow. Brooke stepped closer to Yvie and turned away, crouching her knees slightly and resting her hands on her knees. “Get on my back.”

“What?”

Brooke turned to look over her shoulder. “You’re not hopping to the infirmary,” she said. “Climb on.”

Yvie looked at Brooke skeptically for a moment, but finally decided the Canadian was right. She reached out to wind her arms around Brooke’s shoulders before hopping up on her good leg to swing her legs around Brooke’s hips. The blonde grabbed Yvie’s hands and ankles to secure her, and had to take an extra breath before accepting the added weight on her muscles. Yvie didn’t weigh that much -- she was a size Brooke would envy if she let herself -- but it was more than her body was used to carrying. Knowing she only had a limited amount of time to use any rush of adrenaline she could muster, Brooke hiked Yvie up on her back and started jogging on the balls of her feet, breathing through her nose. She made it to the end of the hall and outdoors before having to pause to ask Yvie which way to go.

“Straight,” said the Junior. Then she laughed at some unspoken joke. Her breath was warm on the back of Brooke’s neck. She was realizing just how close they were together -- duh, she was giving Yvie a piggyback ride. But Yvie’s chest was pressed hard against Brooke’s back and her thighs were around Brooke’s waist and--

_Stop. This is just your friend who you are giving a friendly ride to the nurse’s office. Nothing more._

“Left.”

“Huh? Oh.” Brooke pivoted past the Herbalism greenhouse toward the main building where she came in and met Nina. God, that was just yesterday.

“Sorry if I smell bad.”

Brooke skidded to a stop in the grass, scaring away a cluster of grasshoppers. “What’d you say?”

Yvie removed a hand from around Brooke’s neck and scratched the side of her nose. “It’s just, some of the others bug me about my smell, so, if it’s bothering you, I--”

“You don’t.” Brooke’s lower back started to ache, so she picked up her pace again, balancing Yvie’s weight on her chest and stomach muscles. “Not that I notice, at least,” she added. All of a sudden, she was paying more attention to her nose, trying to find what Yvie was talking about, but all she smelled was grass and fresh air and maybe stale breath but it _was_ midway through the day after all.

Yvie told Brooke to head up some steps to the left side of the main office building, and stairs made her huff and puff a bit more than she usually would, but the door opened easily enough, and they soon found themselves in a clean hallway outside of a mid-to-ceiling window outside of what looked very much like a regular clinic. Yvie unhooked her ankles from Brooke’s waist, and Brooke felt the chill of the loss of her heat. Someone in an old-fashioned Florence Nightingale nurse’s hat saw them come in and opened the door for Yvie while sizing her up with ice blue eyes. “What’s this?”

Yvie huffed out a laugh. “Fucked up my ankle sliding across the floor.”

“Why?” questioned the nurse whose name tag read ‘Visage’.

“She had to catch a Large Spider we brought back from the dead from terrorizing the hall.” It wasn’t until they were looking at her that Brooke realized it was her who had spoken. She blushed under Nurse Visage’s steely gaze.

“And you are?”

Before Brooke could answer, Yvie jumped in to defend her. “She carried me all the way here, Michelle. From West campus.”

Nurse Visage hummed in approval, then dismissed Brooke to go back to class. Although Brooke tried to say she and Yvie had been let out of the rest of their class together, Nurse Visage didn’t budge as she ushered Yvie inside and closed the door on Brooke in the hallway.

Standing alone in the hall outside the infirmary, Brooke looked around, stunned, wondering what to do. There had been windows outside the infirmary. She could levitate herself to be able to look in on Yvie. She knew how to brew a ten-minute invisibility potion, but didn’t have access to any ingredients, and anyway, she was never especially adept with potions or tinctures. As she stood puzzling, who was to walk through the door but Nina West.

“Oh!” exclaimed the house rep. “Brooke Lynn, hi! Didn’t see you there.” She held out her arms to welcome Brooke in for a quick hug. Even briefly having Nina’s arms around her brought Brooke out of her head. Nina pulled back and looked Brooke up and down. “Hey, what are you doing here? Did something happen?”

“Oh. No.” Brooke let out a breath, suddenly remembering that it was the assistant principal and Nina alone in this whole school who Knew. Shit, Nina probably thought she was in crisis! “Not to me,” Brooke covered. She watched Nina’s brow relax slightly. She pointed toward the door that Ms Visage had shut behind her. “Yvie messed up her ankle.”

Nina snorted and rolled her eyes. “That girl and Nurse Visage are on a first name basis at this point.”

“Oh, does she get injured a lot?” Brooke knew some people were more accident prone than others, but Yvie didn’t strike her as particularly clumsy the way some people at her old school had.

Nina nodded. “You could definitely say that.”

“Is she just clumsy, or--”

“Oh no,” said Nina. “Her joints just like, break and bruise and strain easily. You’ll have to ask her about it if you want more. I’m restocking for the party tonight, why don’t you come with me on my errands,” Nina paused. “Unless you wanna wait outside the door like a puppy.”

Brooke shook her head and followed Nina past another few doors and a bathroom until Nina produced a tiny skeleton key the size of a fingernail from the pocket of her slacks. Brooke watched as Nina held the key in her open palm and it grew five times its original size to fit in the old-fashioned lock on the door they stood in front of. When the house rep opened the door, it actually creaked. Brooke cackled, stifling her outburst by the time Nina cast a look back her way. Shaking her head but smiling, Nina cast a nonverbal _lumos_ and her fingertips lit up white-gold.

Nina grinned at Brooke and held out her pointer finger. “Phone home,” she croaked.

Brooke snorted and had to spin around and pretend to walk away for that lame joke.

Once Nina stepped inside the storage cabinet with her Light-Brite fingers, Brooke saw an amusing mix of modern pill bottles and glass cannisters of herbs and powders. There was a whole shelf of tiny, greenish glass bottles whose contents bubbled or shifted of their own accord. She watched Nina pull out a small silvery sack and pour handfuls of Tylenol, Advil, and Benadryl into the bag. “Stocking up, you know,” said Nina.

Brooke nodded. “Have you talked to Ariel since this morning?”

“Ah, saw her in the hall.” Nina picked up one of the bubbling tubes and gave it a swirl. “She wasn’t in a talking mood though. Not that I blame her.”

Nina must have seen Brooke’s worried expression, because she made sure to add “I’ve seen her much worse, trust me. She’ll be fine.” She set down the now-fizzing vial of color-changing liquid and snapped her hand, ending her earlier charm and leaving the two of them in darkness.

For a second, Brooke wondered what Nina was thinking. Was this a seven-minutes-in-heaven type thing she’d walked into? But soon enough, the door back into the hall creaked open and the dingy closet was flooded with light again.

“Are we gonna visit Plastique?” asked Brooke.

Nina’s brows furrowed. “How’s your immune system?”

Brooke shrugged. “Fine, I think.”

“You’re not anemic?”

“No.”

Nina shrugged. “Then I don’t see why not.”

 

Plastique turned out to be an absolutely stunningly gorgeous Vietnamese girl  who, even while she was napping, had an air of gentility. Her dark brown hair fell from a messy, tangled topknot. Her heart-shaped face tapered to a pointed chin and full lips. Brooke felt like she’d been punched in the stomach with rainbows. “What year is she?” she asked Nina softly, careful not to wake the sleeping student.

“She’s a sophomore,” said Nina.

Brooke had to rack her brain to remember what that meant. Damn American high school titles. “She’s… tenth grade?”

Plastique’s eyelids fluttered and she tilted her head, throwing her hand behind her as she let out a yawn. Her eyes opened, revealing soft brown eyes. She looked at Nina, recognized her house rep, and nodded when Nina bade her good morning. Seeing Plastique looking at Brooke like she was a puzzle to be solved, Nina introduced her infirm friend to the exchange student.

Out of habit, Brooke extended her hand to greet her. Plastique gave a little, self-conscious smile. “Oh, I’m still contagious.” Her voice was like a bird’s, feninine with a hint of nasal. Brooke couldn’t tell if the nasality was because she was sick or not.

Either way, she pulled her hand back, but threw caution to the window, joining Nina in sitting on Plastique’s single hospital bed. “The others have told me so much about you,” said Brooke.

Plastique gave a little laugh. “What have those shady bitches been saying about me behind my back?” Nina cackled and nudged her shoulder into Plastique.

“Only good things,” said Brooke. “Genuinely.”

“You’re Canadian, right?” Plastique leaned against Nina and looked up at Brooke. Brooke nodded, smiling nervously. “Say something Canadian.”

Brooke gave a nervous laugh. “Like what?”

Nina pressed her chin against Plastique’s scalp. “Apologise for spilling maple syrup on my poutine.”

“Oh, spilling genuine maple syrup _is_ always a tragedy.” Plastique laughed, and the sound was so cute and sweet and it lit up her face in ways Brooke thought might blind her.

“So,” Brooke glanced around Plastique’s small room. She had a window, which was nice. Her bedside table had a number of rash creams and anti-swelling and anti-fever pills. There was a stack of novels and textbooks and magazines next to her bed. Near the window was an uncomfortable looking but easy-to-clean chair. “This place is kind of nice.”

Plastique groaned. “I’m so sick of being cooped up in here. It’s not even worth getting to skip class anymore, I’m gonna fall behind.”

Brooke felt a pang in her chest as she remembered having the same fear when she was in a similar environment over a year ago. “It’s not so bad,” Brooke said. “Falling behind. Most teachers want to help you out when you do, and so do your friends and peers.” Plastique was looking at her with an odd look in her eyes. Brooke reached up to shove an errant hair under Plastique’s bun. “Playing catch-up isn’t easy, but you can do it.” She shrugged. “I did.”

Plastique tilted her head. “Did you get mono?”

Brooke shook her head. “No, but I did have to spend a lot of time recovering from being sick. And when I was able to do schoolwork again, I tore through my make-up work. It probably helped that I had trouble sleeping.”

Plastique chuckled and shook her head. “I, on the other hand, have the opposite going on.” Her lids wound closed.

“We were in the neighborhood and thought we’d stop by,” said Nina with an air of finality. “But now me and Brooke Lynn are gonna let you get some rest.”

Plastique nodded and lay back down to burrow her head in her pillow. “Yeah, scram. Let me get my beauty sleep.”

Brooke chuckled and stood to follow Nina. “You don’t need any more of that if you ask me,” commented Brooke.

Plastique opened one eye just to give Brooke a cheeky wink.

 

Before they picked up lunch, Nina and Brooke stopped in to the infirmary bathroom to wash their hands, just to be safe.

Today, Brooke went with Nina to pick up the Arby’s bags from the Good Boys and Girls. Once again, the happy puppies had to go much too soon, before Brooke could get in any proper ear scritches. “Do you think Yvie will be able to come to lunch?” Brooke asked Nina.

“Oh definitely,” Nina waved her hand. “Unless she sleeps through lunch, in which case we’ll just bring her something after.”

“Oh yeah,” said Brooke. “I don’t know how you treat injuries here. I’m surprised a regular human illness can knock someone out for as long as Plastique has been out of school. How many weeks?”

“Three and a half,” Nina answered. “I’m actually a volunteer for Visage three days a week, helping out in the infirmary.” For some reason, Brooke was not surprised. “So basically, for Yvie, Visage just hands her a shot of sleeping draught and that knocks her out long enough for Michelle to set her ankle and have it magically wrapped. She’ll be completely recovered by the afternoon.”

Brooke smiled, relieved. “That’s good to hear.”

Nina lifted an eyebrow in reaction, in her very Nina way.

“What’s that face for?” Brooke giggled nervously.

“Do you have a thing for Yvie _as well as_ Vanessa?”

Brooke looked down and away. “I dunno…”

Nina rolled her eyes using her whole head and neck. “God, you’re such a train wreck. Is there anyone else you want to get with?”

Nina’s question had been sarcastic, but Brooke pursed her lips guiltily and ran her fingers through her hair.

“Good God, girl!” exclaimed Nina. “I know half the school wants you, but do you actually want to date all of them??”

Brooke laughed and shook her head, feeling weirdly bubbly. She shrugged. “I dunno, I haven’t met half the school yet.” With a wink, she added, “But I have met Asia and Kameron.”

“Your doppelganger?” Nina shook her head, but her face and tone was playful.  “I swear, Hytes…”

Brooke tossed some hair over her shoulder. “Asia said the same thing, but I gotta say I don’t see the resemblance.”

“Hot, tall, svelte, similar bone structure, especially similar nose and mouth shape, but you have different eye and hair color so _of course_ I see what you mean.” Nina cracked up and Brooke couldn’t help but follow, her cheeks growing warmer. When the laughing subsided, Nina regarded Brooke in a less playful/teasing way. Her energy had calmed and she was more earnest, sensitive. Brooke swallowed her anxiety. Somehow she knew what was coming.

“So,” Nina’s voice was notably softer. “Aside from, heh, you wanting to kiss anything that moves, how’s the mental and emotional health been?”

Brooke steeled herself. She’d come a long way in the last two years, but she still wasn’t all the way comfortable talking about this. It felt too raw still, too tender. They had left the infirmary building and were lazily making their way back across campus. There were butterflies and grasshoppers and glistening magical varieties of common insects hopping around the grass, but no other people to overhear their conversation. She was about as safe as could be. “It’s ah, mm, I wasn’t great this morning,” she leveled. “Was tempted for a second to fall back on old habits, but thankfully I… don’t think I’m near a place where I _would,_ like I’d _want_ to but I wouldn’t… if that makes sense.”

“It does. And I’m glad to hear that.” Nina’s smile was kind and generous. “And you know, as house rep, it’s kinda my job to have a finger on the pulse of not only the physical health but the mental health of my housemates, so, if ever you need to talk about something, I’m your girl.”

Brooke nodded. “I appreciate that.” And she did appreciate that Nina cared, and was open and non-judgemental about struggles like hers, but she also desperately wanted the subject to change. She cleared her throat. “So, speaking of people I wanna kiss… Vanessa invited me to this, sleepover? Party? Thing?”

Nina nodded. “Yes, the old Haus Party. We do them every week or so, sometimes multiple times a week but that’s if it’s like multiple people’s birthdays or some special occasion. There’s pizza, there’s games, there’s shit-talking and _kumbaya_ singing.”

Brooke smiled, already liking the sound of this party. “Vanessa said it was PG rated gal-pal fun.” She giggled. “But something tells me that’s not the whole truth.”

Nina tilted her head to one side, then the other. “I mean, I can’t talk a lot about specifics, there’s a code of secrecy, ‘cause sometimes conversations get deep, and there are secrets that don’t leave that room, but _sometimes_ things take place in our Room of Requirement that are more PG-13.”

Brooke giggled. “Good to know.”

Nina got a mischievous look on her face. “There was this one time that -- nevermind.”

“Oh come _on,_ you have to tell me _something!”_ Brooke grabbed Nina’s arm and jumped up and down. “There’s gotta be some hot goss that you _aren’t_ sworn to secrecy over.”

Nina took a breath. “When Soju finds out you’re eyeing up Vanessa, she’s gonna have it out for you.”

“Really?” Brooke gasped. “Wait, Soju’s the one with the tendonitis?”

“Yeah, and she’s also the one who’s been crushing on Vanessa since the eighth grade.”

“Aww,” Brooke pouted. “Poor Soju. But I feel like if it hasn’t happened yet--”

“Nessa does _not_ feel the same,” Nina confirmed. “Soju’s been able to get a few spin the bottle games out of her, but it was never anything that was reciprocated.”

“Okay.” Brooke dramatically wiped non-existent sweat from her forehead. “Whew.” After a few more steps, Brooke asked, “What about Shuga? You know? Is there anyone she’s into?”

“Oh for the love of God, Brooke--”

“Hey! I am just asking!” Brooke defended. “You’re supposed to be non-judgemental house mom, it doesn’t have to be a thing, just… wondering what she’s into. Besides Mexican candy that tastes like oreos and strawberry pop-tarts had a baby.”

Nina thought for a minute. “I mean… I don’t know if she’s into girls, if I’m honest. Not that she’s boy-crazy or anything, I mean we’ve had some mixer events with the all-boys school over in Illinois and she wasn’t even that interested then. She’s pretty… focused. You know? Like there’s nothing that can distract her from her academics, and I really respect her for that.”

Brooke agreed, her gaze unfocusing. “I used to be like that,” she said softly.

“Mm?” Nina prodded.

Brooke dug the toe of her shoe in the wet dirt. “I used to be… just, hyper focused. All the time. I only… if it wasn’t helping me in school or in dance, I didn’t care about it.”

Brooke was quiet for long enough that Nina spoke up to bring her back to the present. “Do you dance anymore?” she asked.

Brooke quickly shook her head. “Not seriously, no, not since I had to be hospitalized, I mean,” she held up her hands in a semi-joking fashion. “The culture around my dance studio was kinda… what landed me in the hospital in the first place? So, uh, no.”

“I saw you teaching Ariel yoga this morning,” said Nina, mercifully leading the subject matter in a less painful direction. “So does yoga now take the place, in a healthier way, that like, had space that dance led you into? Because I imagine dancing used to be fun, for you, a way to fully inhabit your body.”

Brooke nodded. “Yeah. I kinda… I was telling Vanessa this morning that I used to do yoga more often, especially during the more… hardcore recovery times, when I was physically able to. And yeah, I’m thinking maybe I wanna get back into it. Because when I set my mind on finishing secondary school early… that’s all I focused on. And I put all my energy into finishing and you know, following the nutritionist’s instructions in the meantime, and I kinda left… my relationship with my body in the dust. Like, my body became the thing I needed to feed in order to move my head from place to place. When it used to be so important, when I used to really care so much about… yeah.”

A few moments of silence passed, and they were not altogether unpleasant. They had come to rest at the edge of the field on west campus. They weren’t able to see the clock tower from here, but Brooke supposed it was nearing Good Boy Delivery time. Just the memory of the lineup of close to a hundred golden retrievers cresting over the grassy hill like dolphins on a wave brought a smile to Brooke’s face and ease to her soul. They sat on the grass, Nina with her legs curled up next to her and Brooke with her palms pressed into the grass behind her and her legs stretched out in front of her. After a while, she asked Nina, “Is it always Arby’s?”

“The deliveries are,” Nina answered. “If you get tired of the menu, you can always stand in line for the caf.”

Brooke let out a dark laugh. _“No, thank you.”_

 More time passed, until Brooke and Nina’s intimate moment of friendship, vulnerability, and appreciation of nature was shattered by the ear-splitting screeching of the devil owl. Brooke winced. “Who decided on that for the school bell?” yelled Brooke, ignoring the rivers of teenage students flooding out of classrooms and buildings towards the field.

Nina held up her face to the sun. “I wish I knew so I could send them a strongly worded letter about it.”

Brooke stood to greet the Good Boys she sensed approaching along with the rest of the students. “Does it ever get any _less_ aggravating?”

“No.”

Just like yesterday, the Good Boys came and went too soon. Brooke pouted, feeling a personal loss for not being able to give her Good Boy more Pets. Instead of letting her wallow, Nina grabbed the back of Brooke's blazer and pulled her standing. “C’mon, Hytes, we’ve got hungry teens to feed!”

 

Yvie didn’t make it to lunch, and while Brooke felt her absence, Nina assured her it would be because she was asleep. Brooke followed the other girls’ example today, kicking off her heels, pulling her tie open and opening her blouse down the first three buttons. She tried not to check where Vanessa was looking whenever she glanced Brooke’s way. Having learned her lesson yesterday, Vanessa had left her blouse buttoned, choosing instead to whip her tie entirely off and just stuff it in her bra. It was just one more thing to draw Brooke’s attention to her chest.

Nina nudged her when she thought Brooke had been staring for too long. “So, wanna tell the girls what happened today with Yvie?”

Half a dozen faces turned toward Brooke. “Did she throw her back out again?” “No, she probably got bit by a grindylow.” “Grindylows are aquatic.” “And? Like Yvie doesn’t do random shit all the time?” “remember when she broke her fingers uprooting a, what do you call the fucking baby root things that scream when you--” “Mandrakes.” “MANDRAKES!”

“Why would a necromancy class be fuckin’ around with mandrakes?” Vanessa yelled over everyone else, frustration evident in her shoulders and jaw. “And how are we gonna find out if y’all keep talkin’ over our nice friend Brooke Lynn here?” Brooke felt warmth spread through her chest and cheeks. The girls quieted down thanks to Vanessa, who leaned in a little closer than necessary to say “Go on, baby.”

Brooke’s face burned, her stomach flipped. _Baby!!! No, shut up, it isn’t-- they’re staring at you start talking--_ “Ah yeah well we were working with giant spiders--”

 _“Giant_ spiders or just Large spiders?” asked Shuga. “There is a difference.”

Brooke held her hands out to approximate the size of the fuzzy arachnid. Shuga nodded, “Large spiders, so continue.”

“Uh, right, we’ve got these Large Spiders and they’re dead, all curled up like they get--”

“I do _not_ like spiders,” sassed a girl from the back. Caimbridge? Carmen? Vanessa stared daggers at her for speaking out of turn, placing her pointer finger in front of her lips. Caimbridge/Carmen went silent.

Brooke blushed, not all the way comfortable with the interaction. “Me neither, girl.” She looked to Vanessa briefly before continuing, saying how she and Yvie were paired together and reanimation was actually really hard and how they were just chatting, basically having given up. “And then, like, out of nowhere, the thing just _springs up_ \--” A choir of gasps tore through her audience. “And then it was scurrying and I’m like you, I do not like spiders -- live spiders anyway I was perfectly happy with it dead--” The girls laughed. Brooke felt aglow. “And we’re like -- no, _I’m_ jumping out of the way and falling over desks, but Yvie is chasing it-- and it takes off toward the door and Yvie fucking-- League of Their Own slides, blocking the door and it just runs right into her hands!” She heard laughter and clapping, and when she told them that the spider in question was once again dead as a doornail, a sigh of relief. Brooke realized that she had never had the full attention of her housemates, had never felt like _one of them,_ until right now, with their eyes and attention on her, reacting, listening to her when she spoke. It was amazing. She loved it.

“Wait, wait.” Silky held up a hand, not so much for permission to speak, but to call attention -- away from Brooke. The Canadian tried not to be obviously let down at that, leaning forward instead. “How’d Yvie get hurt? Did-- did it bite her or some--”

“She messed up her ankle on the slide.” Ouch. It came out sharp, blunt. If Silky felt it, she didn’t let on, merely cracking another joke about how strong all Yvie’s bones must be since she’s broken them all at least once.

As attention led away from Brooke once again, she felt her high dying down. But that was probably for the best, she was no Type A, she was no… she wasn’t That Girl. She would never be a Silky, or a Vanessa, or even a Nina. Brooke Lynn Hytes was made to be set dressing, not a star.


	4. "I never would have done this without you."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yvie followed Brooke’s step like a taller, bald reflection.“I was wondering if you wanna come see something.”  
> “Like what?”  
> Yvie smiled, a somewhat sly, mischievous smile.  
> Brooke felt her stomach tighten.  
> Yvie held out her hand. “You’re here for experiences, right?”  
> Brooke pursed her lips. She felt the urge to resist, but her heart knew, she was going to follow Yvie wherever she led. Yvie quirked up a drawn-on eyebrow. “Trust me?”  
> I shouldn’t. “Okay,” she found herself saying. “You lead the way.”

Brooke was walking out of Potions when something hit her full force from the side. She went spinning, toppled off balance and she grabbed the wall to steady herself. Her bag had come open and her journal, notebooks, pens and highlighters where strewn across the floor. “Shit,” she breathed, kneeling down to start picking up her mess. A few others bent down and picked up an item, handing it to her, then went on their way. Brooke’s heart warmed. Americans weren’t all assholes -- though in fairness she knew that already. 

“Sorry, Hytes, didn’t mean to mow you down there.” Looking up, she saw Yvie, standing vertically and unassisted. Brooke cast a glance at her feet, looking for a brace or tape or something. There wasn’t any sign that the girl had been unable to walk just a few hours ago. 

“Yeah, Visage fixed me up pretty good,” said Yvie, sensing Brooke’s thoughts. 

Pulling herself to her feet,  Brooke said, “We saved you lunch.”

Yvie nodded. “Yeah, Nina brought it to me in the infirmary. Thanks.”

Brooke smiled at the girl in the hall and gave a slight nod. “I’d better be off--”

“Actually--” Yvie followed Brooke’s step like a taller, bald reflection. “I was wondering if you wanna come see something.”

“Like what?”

Yvie smiled, a somewhat sly, mischievous smile. 

Brooke felt her stomach tighten.

Yvie held out her hand. “You’re here for experiences, right?”

Brooke pursed her lips. She felt the urge to resist, but her heart knew, she was going to follow Yvie wherever she led. Yvie quirked up a drawn-on eyebrow. “Trust me?” 

 _I shouldn’t._ “Okay,” she found herself saying. “You lead the way.”

Yvie led Brooke back toward their dormitory, past windows to empty rooms and perfectly manicured bushes and flowerbeds, eventually hanging a sharp left around the back of the squat brick building. Yvie pulled off her school bag and held it out for Brooke to hold. Once her hands were free, Yvie went tearing through the bushes, counting off the number of bricks below the nearest window, then counting off bricks to the right of the windowsill. Brooke shifted on her feet, uncomfortable standing so far in the open, her Good Noodle instincts screaming at her for ditching class. 

“Fucking FINALLY,” gasped Yvie. She straightened up to look at Brooke, her lopsided, too-big grin beckoning. Dirt under her short fingernails, she waved the Canadian over. “The portkey’s here.”

Portkey. Brooke took a few steps toward the bushes. “Are we leaving campus?” She stepped over the low cement barrier into the soft soil with Yvie. Her heels sank into the black, moist earth. 

“That’s where all the interesting stuff is.” 

Yvie reached for Brooke’s hand. Brooke’s heart skipped a beat before she extended her arm and placed her palm on top of Yvie’s. The other girl’s grip closed around Brooke’s delicate hand, and she pulled Brooke toward the wall. Brooke stumbled in her heels, and almost smashed her face against the bricks. Yvie side-stepped, creating a semi-soft wall for Brooke to fall against. A wall of bone and flesh, instead of baked clay and mortar.

Brooke huffed against Yvie’s breastbone and, with help, righted herself again. She swept loose hair out of her eyes and blushed. “Ah, so. Uh. Ahem.” She brushed non-existent dust from her blazer. 

Yvie leaned down, her bald head dipping below Brooke’s hips — oh boy did that turn her stomach in a good way — and came back up with a square stone in her hand. It was seemingly unremarkable, but for the layer of White-out she had painted on one side. 

“Simple,” Brooke hummed in approval. “Smart idea for a portkey.”

“Whatever, its gonna kick in in a sec, so you’re gonna wanna grab on.”

Brooke closed her hand around the stone, her fingers on top of Yvie’s. Electricity triggered the nerves in her hand all the way up to her arm. She locked eyes with Yvie, and for a moment, it’s all she wants. Then, the telltale hook in the gut hit Brooke and their bodies disapperated.  

 

It wasn’t her first portkey experience, but Brooke still found herself off-balance and with the wind knocked out of her when the portkey spit them out on the other side. She was standing in large, whitish, stony gravel, and as she pulled in breath, Brooke could taste pine and fresh water on the air. She took an unsteady step. “Where are we?”

“Pie Island.” Yvie was stretching her arms in a T pose, her neck bent back to let the minimal sun warm her face. 

“Cool, but what’s Pie Island?”Brooke stepped strategically in the gravel, doing her best no avoid rolling an ankle in her heels as she approached Yvie. They had apperated around ten feet away from each other on this hunk of rock and grass. Brooke could see another shoreline to her left, a much bigger landmass, on which were planted evidence of civilization. Her anxiety eased at the sight of buildings and streets and boats, tiny in the distance, bobbing along a dock. The breeze was bracing, and Brooke pulled her blazer tighter across her chest, wishing she was wearing socks. “It’s pretty, and a change of scenery, don’t get me wrong, but—“

“What are we doing here?” Yvie finished for her, beaming. 

Brooke unlocked her knees, looked down. “Yeah.”

Yvie followed Brooke’s gaze to her heels, which were really going to be an issue for their little field trip. So the bald girl held her hand out, palm down, and whispered a levitation charm. 

Brooke flailed, suddenly lifted centimeters into the air. Yvie reached out to steady her, holding the Canadian secure. “You’re good,” Yvie counseled. “Just gonna be floating slightly above the ground so we can get around a little easier.”

Brooke chuckled nervously. “I’m not gonna float away?”

“Not if you hold on to me.” Yvie winked. 

Brooke’s stomach flipped, and not from portkey travel.

Yvie wound her arm around Brooke’s shoulders— allegedly to keep her from rising like a helium balloon. Brooke kept swallowing past the butterflies in her tummy and throat, trying to cool the heat that rose to her smiling cheeks, the corners of her mouth pulling wide and upwards against her will. Yvie’s arm was around her shoulders. Her hand was on Yvie’s waist -- or where a waist _would_ be if Yvie had one. Yvie’s shape was too rectangular for her to have a proper waist, not that Brooke cared, especially when her and Yvie’s hips kept bumping against each other, making them erupt into fits of giggles. Once they figured out how to move with some fluidity, Yvie started explaining exactly where they were and why. 

“So we’re walking on an island in the northern part of Lake Superior, that town over there is Thunder Bay… I actually just realized I never thought about it before but we’re in Canada right now.”

Brooke’s face lit up. “Oh my God, yeah! Cause the northern parts of the Great Lakes are ours!”

“Soo, welcome home!” Yvie joked. “I just have to get us to the North side of the Pie, or, as you might say… _le_ pie.”

Brooke rolled her eyes. “You’re awful. Have you ever taken a semester of French?”

Yvie shook her head. “I got shitty grade school Spanish and about three lessons in Arabic from Duolingo over the summer.”

“Spanish and French have the same Latin foundation, you’d probably better at it than you think. I can teach you some basics, it’s really not that hard--”

 _“Really_ not interested,” Yvie cut her off, but not unkindly. “Anyway, you ever heard of a cryptid called the Michigan Merman?”

“The WHAT?”

“So that’s a no.” Yvie started up the lowdown on this sentient magical mer-person who has been around since pre-colonial times. “He’s covered in facial hair and head hair and some accounts say he doesn’t have a nose but I think that’s just because people were seeing him from a distance, you’ll see why in a minute--”

“Wait.” Brooke pulled on Yvie’s hip to get her to take a pause. “Is this real?”

Yvie looked confused. “You’re floating inches off the ground, playing hooky from a school for witches.”

Brooke opened her mouth to clap back, but found she had nothing. She nodded forward, and Yvie kept walking. After a few minutes, they came to some rocky shoals, and Yvie un-enchanted Brooke’s shoes, seating her, Brooke, on a boulder while she, Yvie, took off her flats and waded into the chilly water. Brooke pulled her knees up to her chest, bracing herself against the breeze coming off the lake. 

Brooke looked up when she heard Yvie shouting something. Yvie was yelling into the waves, the rocks, not back to her, and though the words sounded like English, pieces were carried off by the breeze, and what reached Brooke’s ears was incomprehensible. She saw Yvie give an elegant bow, and looking above her friend’s frame she saw -- it couldn’t be. No, she was in Canada on an island after having been on a magic school campus in Michigan a half hour ago. That was a tuft of brown hair in the waves, attached to a flat-looking brown face. Brooke had to squeeze her eyes closed and refocus to see the merman’s nose -- it did exist, but it was very flat and seemed to be in the wrong place, but it was a nose. His face was so furry, if Brooke had been the white explorer who ‘discovered’ this creature, she would have called him a mer-ape.

Yvie took something out of her pocket, wrapped in paper towels and crumbling apart into the waves. She presented it to the merman, and he reached out to take her offering with a weird-looking hand. As she watched him lift pieces of birthday cupcake into his dark, puppet-like mouth, Brooke clapped her hand over her mouth. Six fingers!!! On one hand! The merman had an opposable thumb and five fingers on his hand. 

Suddenly, the merman’s chin turned up. She couldn’t see his eyes under his hairy brow, but Brooke’s heart thudded with the possibility that she had inadvertently pissed off a preternatural being with unknown levels of power. Yvie even glanced back at Brooke, and thankfully her brown eyes weren’t broadcasting ‘oh shit oh shit’ energy. 

Brooke watched Yvie bend at the waist again, holding her arms open. The merman turned from Brooke back to Yvie, seeming to look on her with… Brooke couldn’t read his expression -- there was too much hair. She remembered that animals take eye contact as a threat and thought it couldn’t hurt to pretend the merman was a very small bear. Brooke averted her eyes and curled her shoulders in, tucking her chin behind her knees, doing everything she could to fold all 6’3 of her into a non threatening lump.

She wasn’t looking, so when Yvie started approaching her, she only looked up when she heard Yvie fighting her way back through the current. Brooke let go of her knees and let her legs dangle again, curling her back straight again to talk to Yvie. Not knowing what to say, she waited for Yvie, who huffed with the effort of getting back on land. “Gwayne wants to meet you.”

Brooke squinted. “What?”

Yvie motioned back toward the lake. “My buddy the merman saw you -- I thought I might get away with just letting you watch but he saw you and he was like what’s that and I said she’s my friend I wanted to bring her with me on the journey this time… And he wants to meet you.”

“You called him Wayne.”

Yvie shook her head and enunciated this time. “Guh-wayne. It’s an oldish sounding name, he lets me call him Gwayne ‘cause he’s called by a much longer name, but part of it sounds like ‘way’ -- you coming or not?”

Brooke glanced back out at the waves. The merman had gone back to hiding. She pursed her lips. “Oh, fuck it,” she declared at last, tossing her heels back toward the land and sliding into the chill of the lake water. Yvie offered her hand, and Brooke took it, noticing first the softness of Yvie’s skin -- it felt almost like holding on to velvet -- then the coldness of it. Brooke clapped her free hand over Yvie’s and brought their hands to her mouth to warm Yvie’s fingers with her breath. She watched a tiny bit of blush rise to Yvie’s cheeks as she led them through the surf. The merman appeared from behind a rock when Yvie was submerged to her thighs and Brooke to her hips. “Gwayne,” Yvie said, her voice stiff with the chill of the water. “This is my woman companion, Brooke Lynn.”

Brooke tried to emulate Yvie’s bow, succeeding only in getting the tips of her hair wet. When she straightened her back again, the merman opened his mouth to speak. Brooke didn’t know what she expected the short, six-fingered merman’s voice to sound like, maybe like the croak of a frog. But what came out sounded like the buzzing of insects’ wings, and it said: “Brooke Lynn, what have you to submit in offering?”

Brooke looked to Yvie in desperation. “Uuuuuuh I didn’t bring anything with meeee…” _is he gonna curse me if I can’t make an offering?_ She begged Yvie with her eyes. 

No witch child grows up in the magical world without it getting drilled into their sculls that magical creatures will _fuck you up_ if you piss them off. You’ll die in a horrific way, awful things will be done to your body, your corpse might turn to literal shit before they can bury you. A man pissed off a forest spirit and with whatever wife or mistress he took, all his children turned to mulch in his hands. A woman who plucked a feather from a sleeping Thunderbird choked to death on black feathers, no matter how many attempts were made to clear her airways. A hunter aimed at a sentient doe and his dart went through and through his heart -- when preparing his body the women of his family found that his heart had turned to ash.

Yvie turned to Brooke. “Gwayne isn’t only interested in food and trinkets. He likes things he’s never seen before.” Yvie smiled. “Nina told me about this morning,” she said in a hushed tone. “You can make your body do interesting things. Show him some of them.”

Brooke tried to steady herself among the force of the water, but had to make her way back up the rocky beach to keep from running the risk of being knocked over and pulling a hamstring. Once she was only knee deep, Brooke was easily able to thrust her left leg 180 degrees into the air. Her wet slacks clung to her skin, and the breeze gave her a chill, but Yvie must have seen her shiver, because soon Brooke felt a warm breeze waft over to her. 

She wasn’t told to stop, and she had every reason to fear a sentient water spirit, so Brooke mentally ran through and created her second yoga session of the day. After the ‘look how high I can hold my leg’, Brooke leaned forward into a Standing Bow Pull, otherwise known as the ‘stand on one foot and grab the other behind your back while leaning forward at 90 degrees’ pose, and then moved into the ‘Standing Head to Knee’ where you stand on one foot and kiss your other knee. Brooke followed these flexes with a Tree Pose, otherwise known as ‘heel to groin’. This pose, she remembered, was part of an early exploration into what sensations made her pussy feel good. A little fucking with the Tree Pose and Brooke could have been foot-fucking herself. But then, that would fuck with her balance.

Eventually, Brooke heard Yvie’s voice calling out to her. She couldn’t hear her friend’s words, but Yvie waved her over, so Brooke re-submerged herself. When she finally was back within an arm’s reach of Yvie, she looked upon the merman -- Gwayne -- with optimistic fear. Amazingly, this time she could see his eyes -- they were small and reminded Brooke of a teddy bear she’d had when she was little, his black marble eyes stitched in only loosely, so he was blind by the time Brooke turned seven. 

“Your body fascinates me,” said Gwayne, in his buzzing falsetto. “I accept your offering, Brooke Lynn.” Gwayne had difficulty pronouncing the ‘r’ in Brooke’s name, so it sounded more like Bwooke. It was yet another thing that had her comparing this ageless spirit to a child. Something in her wanted to pat him on the crown of his hairy, dreadlocked head. She suppressed the urge, fearing divine wrath. Brooke bowed again, thought it might be appropriate.

“As you have pweased me, you may ask one question,” said Gwayne. 

Brooke hesitated. “I dunno, Yvie what’d you ask?”

Yvie arched a brow at her. “Confidential.”

Brooke groaned, immediately panicking that Gwayne might take that as a sign of disrespect. “Can I call a rain check on that one question?”

“I do not understand wain check.”

“Can I ask you another time?” Brooke amended.

Gwayne hummed in understanding, then nodded in answer. Then he said of Brooke, “You are one of chattering thoughts.”

Brooke leaned back and opened her mouth to reply, but she found only air. “Uh… I guess you’re right.”

“You,” Gwayne turned to Yvie. “You are cut even fwom birth, and use words to cut others.”

“You’re not wrong.” Yvie nodded. “I have been trying harder recently.”

Gwayne held out his six-fingered hand, palm up. He bowed his round head slightly. “It is an honor to keep your company,” he said to Yvie. 

Yvie folded her hand over her heart and bowed her head as well. “And yours.”

To Brooke, he bowed and said, “It is an honor making your acquaintance.”

Brooke mimicked Yvie, bobbing her head too jerkily. “Thank you, ah, same to you.”

With that, Gwayne faded back into the surf, and Yvie and Brooke were left on a beach in Ontario, alone. 

 

Brooke remembered survivalist magic from her exams, and with some charcoal from her supplies and some grass Yvie collected, she started a modest fire. Together, they helped the flame balloon to actually be strong enough to heat up the two of them, and Brooke finally asked a question that had been bugging her since they arrived. “How are we gonna get back?”

Yvie smiled with half of her mouth. It was mischievous and adorable. Brooke bit her lip. Nina’s words from earlier echoed in her mind. _I know half the school wants you, but do you actually want to date all of them??_ Looking over at Yvie, staring into the flame, Brooke wondered if the ‘half the school’ that was interested in her included Yvie or not. 

And, thinking of her chat with Nina earlier… 

“Hey, Yvie? Can I ask you something?”

“Depends what.”

Brooke unwound and rewound her hair, wishing she had a comb with her. “I was talking to Nina earlier, and she wouldn’t really tell me much, said I had to ask you…”

Yvie looked back at Brooke, her pupils dilated from looking away from the warm heart of the fire. “And?”

Brooke uncrossed her legs and shifted to sit on her knees. She wasn’t shivering anymore, so that was good. Her butt was still wet, though, and that was a bummer. “Yvie,” Brooke started. “Why are you on such good terms with the head nurse? And why did everyone know when you weren’t at lunch that you were injured -- like, are you sure these girls are your actual friends cause they didn't seem concerned at all.”

To her surprise, Yvie let out a malicious sounding chuckle. Brooke’s face must have betrayed her, because when Yvie looked at her, she cracked up even harder. Finally getting ahold of herself, she ran her hand over her scalp. “Look, Hytes, today wasn’t my first sprained ankle, won’t be my last.”

Brooke leaned forward, her palm pressed to the rocky beach beneath them. Her voice was full of compassionate force. “Are you okay?” 

Yvie sucked in a breath and smiled ruefully. “Depends what you mean by okay. Okay today? Yeah, definitely. Okay tomorrow, the rest of the week? Probably. The next five years? Maybe. The next ten?” She scoffed. “If I’m lucky, I’ll still be walking unassisted at thirty.”

Brooke’s brows furrowed. “I don’t understand. Why do you think that?” She almost said _I know what it’s like to not see a future for yourself, I know what it feels like to think reaching age thirty is unattainable._ But something told Brooke that Yvie’s situation was different than she had thought. She seemed more certain, somehow.

Yvie turned her whole body to face Brooke, her long legs curled around herself, around the fire. She looked into Brooke’s eyes, making Brooke feel like Yvie was reaching out to hold her hand, even though they remained very much separate. “I have a rare disease,” she said flatly. “It’s not contagious, not many people have it, but those of us that do, we have to be careful. My joints are pretty much constantly sliding apart. Because of that, I’m in near constant pain. There are bad days and better days. Today, for example, was a better day -- up until that ankle twist.”

“How…” Brooke’s brain buffered. “There’s gotta be some kind of treatment.”

Yvie nodded, frown lines appearing on her forehead. “Diet and exercise for the underlying condition. When my body inevitably fucks itself over, muscle relaxers and pain meds. I’d feel bad for non-witches with Ehlers-Danlos, but healing magic isn’t much farther along than biomedicine as far as treating connective tissue disorders.”

Brooke pressed her lips into the back of her hand. She didn’t know what to say, didn’t want to say the wrong thing. She wished there was something she could do. After a few minutes of watching the fire, she settled for gratuity. “Thank you,” she said.

“For what?” Yvie arched an eyebrow at Brooke. 

Brooke took a long breath in through her nose. “I’m not a… risk taker. Not a routine breaker. The last time I ditched class was because I was in a dark time, not because there was another experience that was genuinely worth my time.” She motioned toward Gwayne’s rocks. “I never would have done this without you.” She was very aware of how close their faces were in the late afternoon. “So thank you, Yvie.”

A smile rose to Yvie’s cheeks. She looked away. “I mean I was happy to have you. Plus I wanted to pay you back for having my back this morning.”

Brooke felt warmth spread in her chest, but the opportunity presented itself, and she had to take it. “You mean having you _on my back_ this morning! Heyo!”

Yvie groaned. “I take it back, you can go die in a fire.”

Brooke giggled, finding herself biting the tip of her tongue mischievously and wishing this afternoon never had to end.

Suddenly Yvie looked at Brook seriously. “Hey, you’re not upset I joked about you dying in a fire, right?”

“No,” Brooke smiled. “Not today. I think I’m okay if you joke about _my_ death, but not your own. Telling me to die in a fire for making a bad pun is funny. You saying you crave death because of a stressful assignment is worrying.”

“Oh, well good thing you laid out those ground rules,” said Yvie. “Good to know you’re more comfortable thinking about your own death than other peoples’.”

“Well I used to think about it a lot, so.” Brooke shrugged.

“You and me both, sis.” Yvie nodded, going back to contemplating the fire. She didn’t ask Brooke any questions about what she’d said, and Brooke liked that about Yvie. She made Brooke feel like nothing was off the table when talking with her. Nothing was gonna scare Yvie away. It was refreshing, in a way that got Brooke to wondering when was the last time she felt this close with someone her age. 

Brooke stared at Yvie’s left hand. The other girl was leaning back on her elbows, her hands limp by her sides. Brooke reached out to hover her fingers over Yvie’s, hesitating. “Hey… Yvie?” her voice was small.

“Mm?” Yvie didn’t look away from the fire.

“Can I hold your hand?”

Yvie seemed somewhat surprised when she looked back at Brooke. Seeing the Canadian blushing pink and averting her eyes, Yvie softened. She answered Brooke by turning her hand over and winding her fingers between Brooke’s.

 

It wasn’t until sunset, when their feet were again treading the lawn back on campus, with Yvie’s arm slung over her shoulders that Brooke realized-- “Fuck.” She’d stopped in her tracks.

Yvie slid her arm down to Brooke’s waist. “You okay?”

Brooke broke the connection, her wheels spinning. “Fuck fuck, shitfuck god dammit.”

Yvie held up her hands in resignation, taking a few steps back. “Okaaay.”

Brooke ran her fingers through her still-damp hair, grabbing a clump at the top of her head. She grunted, sliding down into a squat of shame. “I promised Kameron and Asia I’d meet with them during study hall,” she confessed. “I completely forgot. God, they’re gonna hate me.” She covered her face with her hands. 

Yvie raised her eyebrow muscles. “Kameron _Michaels?”_ She asked. “Well, I mean she’ll probably be a little pissy, but she jumps at any opportunity to blow off class. Asia, though. First impressions matter to a girl like her. Mayhem too.” She took a knee in the grass beside Brooke. “But you’ve got charm. You can win them back.” 

She chuckled. “Being hot definitely helps. But for real.” Yvie’s hand was on top of Brooke’s knee. Brooke looked up from her hands. Yvie’s eyes were deep and brown and honest. “You’ll be back in their good graces in no time,” she said. 

Brooke let herself take in a deep breath. Yvie wasn't going to bullshit anyone just to make them feel better. And she wasnt saying Brooke didnt fuck up, or that she wasn’t a horrible, selfish bitch. Yvie was saying Brooke could make it okay again at some point in the future. And that may have been the most helpful thing Brooke had ever heard.

Yvie stood up and offered Brooke her hand. Brooke took it, again finding herself stuck on the softness of Yvie’s skin. It was because of the Ehlers-Danlos, Yvie had said. Brooke just wanted to hold her hand, maybe stroke her cheek, compare and contrast all of Yvie’s textures. Before she could let her mind wander too far, Yvie tugged Brooke toward their dorm. “You can brainstorm ways to make the Butterfly Brigade forgive you for standing them up another time,” Yvie declared. “Tonight, we’ve got a slumber party to attend.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gwayne is based on the Cree and Ojibwa legend of the Maymaygwashi which is now known as the cryptid, the Michigan Merman.  
> Read all about his legends here: http://www.native-languages.org/memegwesi.htm  
> and his cryptid-ness here: http://michigansotherside.com/the-michigan-merman/
> 
> gay jesus help me juggle all the characters for the slumber party chapter...


	5. Slumber Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ah!!! the long awaited slumber party!!! Brooke bonds with the girls! Secrets are revealed! Tears are shed! Any many, many laughs are had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so happy to have this done!!! It's taken so long!!! (that jump in total word count will tell you why. I had to put this in a whole new document bc it basically doubled the existing length.

###  **Chapter Five**

Yvie led Brooke by the hand back into their dorm. “So where is this party happening?” she asked. “Nina’s room is the biggest, but like, I can’t imagine it holding all fifteen of us.”

Yvie slung an arm around Brooke. “Oh let me tell you. You know those rooms that none of us sleep in?”

“Yeah,” said Brooke. “I’ve been meaning to ask Nina about that. Like if we have extra rooms, why does everyone have to share?”

Yvie shrugged. “So everyone can keep an eye on everyone. No, really, that’s why. There’s this idea Administration has that if everyone has a buddy, no nefarious things will be able to go down because you’ve always got someone aware of where you’re sleeping and when you’re getting to bed, what you’re doing before then.” Brooke’s skeptical face said all she was thinking. Yvie let out her witch cackle, and Brooke was helpless to resist falling in with her. 

“So anyway,” Yvie waved her hand, as if shooing away the distraction. “Our last room is for like, if a club or sport or whatever comes to town, we start hosting them and all the dorms --even staff halls have overflow rooms. And the last room is our Room of Requirement, and  _ that’s _ where everyone’s hanging out.”

When Yvie turned the door handle and let them into the Sleepover, Brooke’s heart thudded in her chest, her mouth falling open. Everyone was out of uniform, for one thing. Half the girls had washed the makeup off their faces. Almost no one was wearing shoes. So when she and Yvie walked in late and damp and smelling like the lake and still in their uniforms, yeah it was obvious.

Brooke blushed under Scarlet’s challenging gaze and Nina’s raised eyebrow. She did everything she could to avoid looking at Vanessa, too afraid of what her expression would say. Ra'Jah beckoned them over to the snack table, where the girls had set out a spread of pretzels, chips, crackers, cookies, candy, and Brooke smelled but couldn’t see popcorn. As they approached the table, Brooke became aware that music was playing from somewhere she couldn’t see, or hear really from the murmur of conversation in the room. The sheer number of blankets, couches, chairs and rugs probably didn’t help with acoustics.

“Nice to see you back on campus, ladies,” said Ra'Jah with a knowing yet inoffensive glare.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Yvie grabbed a handful of pretzels and scooped them onto a paper plate. She eyed the soda spread with confusion. “Where’s the booze?”

“Chill, Baldie,” Silky butted in. “Liquor’s coming. A’Keria’s bringing.”

“Better not be more of that boring Mermaid Rum,” remarked Soju. “That was such a waste of time. Just ‘cause it’s made by merpeople doesn’t make it any better than stuff made by humans.”

“Mm. And that Kachina Tequila sure made for a night I wish I could forget.” Vanessa added, her hip bent out in a way that surely wasn’t  _ intended _ to make Brooke’s mind go crazy. _ God, I’m such a perv. _

Brooke let Yvie pour her a Sprite and fill her plate with junk food. She asked Ra'Jah about that intoxicating popcorn smell. “Oh yeah,” said Ra'Jah. “That’s one of the things-- it always smells like popcorn but we never have any, it’s so annoying.”

_ “Ra'Jah.”  _

Brooke searched for Nina, having recognized her Reproachful Mom voice. It didn’t take her long to find the Hall Rep; she towered over the rest of them.

Nina’s hair was in curlers and her face was bare on one side and full of streaks of color on the other side. Brooke’s face must have been easy to read, because Nina took one look at her and explained, “Scarlet’s having fun with my face.” Nina wound a long arm around Brooke’s shoulders -- which felt secure and safe despite Nina being a little sweaty from the room being so full of teenage body heat -- and said to Ra'Jah “You really shouldn’t lie to Canada like that. It won’t even be funny. She’ll end up apologizing to you.”

Girls laughed around her -- Yvie and Vanessa among them. Brooke blushed and bit back a ‘sorry’. She couldn’t give them the satisfaction. She shoved a chocolate covered something into her mouth to keep from apologising out of habit. Brooke let out a squeal at the chilling sensation of mint that struck her tongue. Her hand rose to her mouth protectively. 

“What’s wrong, Canada? you never had a Thin Mint before?” questioned Silky. 

“No I have,” said Brooke, hiding her mouth with her hand. “We have them, it’s just, much,  _ much _ sweeter than the ones back home.”

“That’s not the only thing that’s  _ sweeter _ this side of the border!” A few feet away, Scarlet stood up in her pink silky nightgown and struck a cutesy pose that reminded Brooke of WWII era pinup calendars. And she’d be lying to herself if she said it didn’t do anything for her. 

Silky cracked a joke, and people laughed, but Brooke missed it because, er, well.

While everyone waited around for booze to arrive, the party was mostly chit-chatting and milling about. When Vanessa wandered over to a cabinet at the back of the room and pulled out a contraband ipod, Brooke quickly made her way over as well. “So you’re DJ-ing tonight, huh?” she said.

“Sure am.” Vanessa threw her hair over her shoulder. Her top was pretty low cut, showing off an abundance of tan, mostly-smooth skin. Vanessa had zits, like any teen, mostly on her chin and forehead, her neck, shoulders and chest looking doll-like in comparison. “You got a request?”

“Uh…” Brooke suddenly forgot every song she’d ever heard. Fuck, she blushed again under Vanessa’s gaze. “I dah… um how bout some -- er…” 

Vanessa burst out laughing, and Brooke couldn’t help but lose it too, even if Vanessa was laughing at her, which Brooke hoped she wasn’t. “Tell you what,” said Vanessa, flashing the smile that turned Brooke’s insides to ooze. “I’m playing some Spice Girls next, that work for you?”

Brooke made a face. “Um, of  _ course _ the Spice Girls works for me bitch who  _ don’t _ they work for!”

“Simon Cowell,” said a voice from behind Brooke. She spun around to see Nina eyeing her up in her uniform. “I can run into your room and grab you some PJs if you want,” she offered. “You must be screaming to get out of those slacks.”

Brooke groaned. “I am, thanks a bunch.”

“And I couldn’t help but notice you’re wet,” Vanessa squawked, her brows like chiseled stone. Her lips pressed together with attitude.

Brooke blushed. “Uh, yeah, me and Yvie took a um, field trip.”

“Mm-hm.” 

To her left, Nina seemed to remember something. “Oh, if you’d rather, I have an oversized shirt in my bag. It’s oversized on me, so it’s sure to just swallow you.”

“If it’ll swallow me, I’m sure Nessa’d drown in it.” Brooke smiled. “Thanks, Nina.”

Nina turned on her heel and went to the lineup of bags by the door. “That girl is just too nice for her own good,” said Vanessa. Before Brooke could reply, the first beats of ‘Wannabe’ started playing and suddenly all conversation stopped when the spirit of Sporty Spice took over and --

_ I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want _

Vanessa grooved along before firing back, lipsyncing  _ So tell me what you want, what you really, really want-- _

And all was forgotten.

 

Nina danced over to where Brooke and Scarlet were grooving and held out a wad of pastel yellow fabric. Still in step, Brooke mouthed a giant ‘thank you’ to Nina and gave her a little squeeze before bouncing off. 

Brooke’s face was inside cotton-poly-blend when multiple happy screams broke out through the room. When she crowned, she realized immediately what everyone was so excited about— Akeria in the doorway holding a bottle by the neck. The bottle itself was obscured by a Target bag, but anyone who saw her holding it would know exactly what it was. She ran squealing into the arms of Silky and set the bottle down on the snack table. 

“Alright!” declared Silky. “Everyone grab a teacup and let A’keria pour you some fairy Liqueur, so we can get this night started right!”

A’keria holds up a fancy looking bottle, about the size of a tea kettle. It’s ceramic, but there’s some kind of shine effect on the bottle. A’keria undid the top with a corkscrew and filled the first of about twenty plastic child-sized teacups. Yvie dashed across the room in record time, falling into line just behind Vanessa, who had been standing next to Silky, preserving her place in line before the booze even showed up with A’keria.

Brooke wasn’t one to stand in line, so she headed over to Shuga, seated on a black ottoman along the far wall. Her roommate shot her a side-eye, then smirked and uncrossed her legs, shifted her hips and patted the place next to her. Brooke smoothed the back of her school pants -- still damp, mind you, but Nina’s shirt only just covered her ass, so what alternative did she have?

“Why are you keeping your slacks on?” questioned Scarlet, one eyebrow raised.

Brooke shrugged. “Don't have anything else.”

Scarlet rolled her eyes and pulled the front of her robe open. Underneath she was wearing a pale pink camisole and high waisted drawstring shorts. Effortlessly, she pulled out the bow on her shorts, tugged the waist open and pulled them down. Stepping out of her shorts, Scarlet grabbed them off the floor and held them out to Brooke with two fingers.

Brooke’s mouth had gone dry and she’d started to get very warm down below, but she shoved all that aside at the same time she forced herself to look away from Scarlet’s long slender legs. Taking the shorts from Scarlet, Brooke undid the button on her school pants and pulled the zipper down. 

“Thanks,” said Brooke, looking anywhere but Scarlet, who still hadn’t closed her robe, letting the pink silk fall languidly from her shoulders, gaping open in the front to show off all the other girl was working with. 

Scarlet smirked. “Who’d have known it was that easy to get in my pants, right?”

Brooke snorted, doubling over so she had to let go of the drawstrings around her waist. Scarlet tutted and reached out to do up the drawstrings for her. Brooke’s breath caught in her chest at the closeness of Scarlet’s hands, how she made such quick work of the strings, leaving her with a cutesy little bow just in front of her belly button. 

Scarlet cocked her head to the side and gave a slight pat to Brooke’s abdomen. Her green eyes glistened with mischief as she purred, “Gotta leave you some room to fill.”

With that, the redhead twirled on the ball of her foot and pranced off to grab a tiny teacup of fairy booze. Brooke slumped back into her seat beside Shuga, her brain and body short-circuiting from the sheer overload of sexual tension in that interaction. 

While the Canadian tried to catch her breath, her roommate twirled a chair around to back straddle it. Shuga held one of the teacups of color-changing, slightly holographic, bubbling liqueur between her thumb and pointer finger, her pinky held high as she took a sip and eyed up Brooke. “If you’re not careful, that girl’s gonna call you out to the woods at 3 am to eat your soul.”

“I don’t know if I’d mind.” Brooke let out a shaking, embarrassed laugh. 

“Wow.” Shuga rested her elbow on the back of the chair, which was in front of her. “You really do got it bad.”

Brooke closed her eyes and shook her head. “For multiple people, as a matter of fact.”

“You really are too gay to function,” said Shuga.

Brooke laughed and bent her head to her knees. “God, I’m a fucking train wreck.” Sitting back up straight, she was able to make eye contact with Shuga. The senior girl was in some form of what she’d been wearing last night, only with a kind of cardigan over her sleep shirt and pajama pants. It had a bunch of geometric designs and looked like it might have been made of wool. Shuga, seeing Brooke taking note of it, said “Now this one you don’t get to borrow.”

“Wasn’t gonna ask,” said Brooke, holding her palms up. “Just trying to figure out what it’s made of.”

Shuga hummed and nodded. “Wool. From magical sheep, you know. Stain-resistant. Bitch to dye, though. Gotta have a whole ceremony to ask permission to dye the fucking fabric. But, five-ish generations later, never had to wash it and it doesn’t stink.”

“No kidding?” Brooke raised her eyebrows. She craned her neck to try to get a look into Shuga’s teacup. “What’s it taste like?” she asked.

Shuga held her cup a little farther away. “Go get your own, bitch.”

Brooke giggled and shifted in her seat. “Before I do, though,” she said in a low voice so only Shuga would hear. “Mind quizzing me on names?” she asked. “I think I’m good on most of ‘em, but…”

Shuga nodded and motioned toward some girls who were chatting with Silky and A'Keria. “Round one.”

Brooke blew hair from her face and racked her brain. “Silky, I know. A'Keria brought the booze -- she doesn’t talk much, does she?”

“Only behind other people’s backs.”

Brooke snorted, then desperately tried to hide from view in Shuga’s cardigan. “Okay,” she whisper-screamed. “Okay, but, Top Model over there, I never remember her name.”

Shuga nodded. “That’s Kahanna. I call her Han, but you should probably ask first. She really is supermodel material isn’t she? Tall, skinny, no curves at all, I’d say she should eat more but I see her eat and it fully goes nowhere, so.” She shrugged. “What a bitch.”

Brooke chuckled, somewhat uncomfortable for how close that hit for her. She should probably tell Shuga… after the party, when it was just the two of them in their room. “Some people have fast metabolisms.” Quickly changing the subject, Brooke pointed at the smallest member of their haus. “Her. She has a car name, something like a Mazda or a motorola or a…”

“Motorola?” Shuga echoed, keeping her mouth small and puckered, like she was trying not to laugh.

“Yeah?” Brooke said.

“Motorola has nothing to do with cars,” Shuga squeaked through her teeth. The sides of her eyes crinkled with the effort of holding back the raucous laughter Brooke could see in her eyes.

Brooke blushed. “No?” 

Shuga’s face was taking on a reddish hue. She shook her head. “Uh-uh.” 

“But,” Brooke said in a small voice. “It’s got the word ‘motor’ in it.”

That was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. Shuga blasted out a laugh that would have put Silky to shame; it was half-laugh-half-scream. The other girls turned toward the sudden noise, and Brooke shrunk under their eyes.

“Motorola isn’t a car company!” Shuga shrieked. “They make PHONES!”

“Oooooh.” Brooke pursed her lips and tossed her hair over her shoulder, putting on an air of confidence. “Well it’s not my fault I’m too femme for all this mechanical knowledge.”

“Does that make me butch?” Shuga asked the room. “Because I know the difference between a tech company and an car company, that makes me butch?”

“I mean, certainly one of the butchest in this room,” offered Scarlet.

“Mercedes,” said Shuga once she’d caught her breath.

“MERCEDES!” Brooke exclaimed at the memory. 

From across the room, the short girl looked up. “You want something?” She called in a really sweet sounding accent. 

“No, sorry!” Brooke sat on her hands. “Just trying to see if I can remember everyone’s names. Sorry.”

Mercedes seemed to look at her with pity. “Aw,” she said. “You’re cute. It’s all good.” The way she said it, it sounded like  _ yaa kyoot; iss aw good _ . Can’t be Nigerian, Brooke riddled out in her mind. Not a harsh enough accent. Something about Mercedes’ affectation had the kind of softness of a Kiwi or Welshman. She was going to find out by the end of the night.

“Brooke, why ain’t you drinkin’ yet?” squawked Silky.

“Wanted to wait until the line went down.” Brooke slowly stood up and started to make her way over to where A'Keria was pouring out a teacup for her. 

“You ever had fairy liquor before?” A'Keria asked.

Brooke shook her head. “Had a lot of whiskey and tequila, but no magic booze.”

A'Keria held out the filled teacup to Brooke. “Congrats on popping your cherry.”

Brooke chuckled and took the tiny cup like Shuga had. She felt like such a giant holding it by the handle, which was about as big as her pinky. 

“Speaking of,” said Silky, looking up at Brooke with a glint in her eyes. “I wonder when Canada did.”

“Did what?” asked Brooke, about to take her first, tentative sip.

“Pop your cherry.”

Brooke about did a spit take, and not because of the taste. She was surprised, though, why  _ should _ she be surprised -- it was Silky. And, looking up as she wiped a trail of spit-and-liquor from her chin (hot, Brooke, real hot), she noticed Vanessa watching with interest. Brooke felt her face burn.

“Come on, with that bod, don’t expect us to believe you’re still a virgin,” quipped Yvie from about five feet away. She was holding the base of her cup in her palm, long fingers hiding the whole teacup in her hand. 

Brooke blushed. “I mean, you’d be right,” she said. She tried not to be too obviously looking at Vanessa to gauge her reaction. And she tried to pretend she didn’t notice the flash of… what was it -- disapproval or maybe sadness? --that crossed Vanessa’s face for a fraction of a second, before being replaced with a vaguely happy face.

“I feel like you lost it at fourteen or something like that,” said Silky, motioning around Brooke’s general physical form. “All this ain’t stay in the clear for long.”

People were laughing and she was uncomfortable again. Brooke silenced herself by knocking back all the contents of her shotglass-sized teacup. To her surprise, there was no alcoholic sting, no flavor at all, really, besides maybe cream. Immediately, though, a gasp fell among the girls. People were like “why’d you do that?!” and “holy shit” but the only thing she heard was when Vanessa let out a signature cackle and cried, “Damn, alright, Canada’s gonna have personality tonight!”

She didn’t know what they were talking about, and immediately felt insecure. Wasn’t she meant to do that? No one else had just knocked one back like that, what if it was dangerous? 

A'Keria, seeing Brooke’s panic setting in, reached out and placed her hands over Brooke’s shoulders, seeming to push her down, keeping her on the ground. “You’re not gonna die, or explode,” A'Keria consoled. “It’s just this crowd has had our fair share of experiences with enchanted alcohol, and somewhere down the line we learned to take it slow at first till you know what it does to you.” The other girl swiped her fingertips across Brooke’s scalp by her temples, curling her fingers through Brooke’s pale blonde hair. “So what’s gonna happen is you’re gonna switch to water or soda for a hot second until it hits you. In the meantime, the rest of us are gonna catch up. Okay?”

Silky handed Brooke a red plastic cup full of 7Up at just the moment Nina returned through the door -- Brooke never realized she’d left -- with her arms full of pizza. Immediately Ra'Jah, Vanessa, Akeria and Honey blew past Brooke to each take a box and set it out on a second table. Brooke wondered briefly why she hadn’t noticed a big empty table before, when she remembered there distinctly not having been one.  _ Oh, _ it occurred to her,  _ right, magic. _

 Vanessa counted off their options. “Aight, we got Hawaiian, plain cheese, two pepperoni -- one stuffed crust one regular -- one meat lovers. Brooke, you pick first, since you could float to the ceiling all of a sudden like Charlie’s grandpa in a minute.”

Brooke winced at the possibility of her feet leaving the ground, but pushed past it to ask for two slices of Hawaiian. Multiple people shook their heads in consternation, grumbling about pineapple on pizza. Brooke felt her stomach twist when Vanessa puckered her lips and shot her a serious side-eye. “So you’re one of those pineapple-belongs-on-pizza hoes.”

Brooke looked down, taking the paper plate Vanessa handed her. “I guess I am.” 

Vanessa reached out and grabbed the top slice on Brooke’s plate and bit the tip off. Chewing, she dropped the slice back on Brooke’s plate. “Good thing I am too.”

Brooke blushed. “Yeah. Good thing.” As she made her way back to sit by Shuga, Brooke mentally flogged herself.  _ Yeah? Good thing?? What a stellar conversationalist you are! Fuck! _

Shuga chuckled wryly next to her. “Go hard Hytes,” she teased. “Didn’t peg you as the ‘jump straight into the deep end’ kind of girl.”

Brooke downed a swig of soda to help hide her shame. “I know,” said Brooke, swallowing. “‘Cause of my general personality, yeah.” She took a big bite of her pizza, plowing past the inner voice that screamed at her for it.  _ Just cause the call is coming from inside the house doesn’t mean the killer is you;  _ She let her therapist’s words echoing around in her body, soothing every place they came into contact with. She was back to thinking her mantra, over and over, with every bite, like she had months ago. She told herself it was understandable. She was still acclimating to a new environment, new routine. But still, it felt like regression.

“Helloo, earth to Brooke Lynn.”

Brooke snapped out of her thoughts. She’d managed to get one whole slice of hawaiian down, taking it slow and talking out the conflict she felt inside with each bite she swallowed. Fuck. Someone was talking to her. “Sorry.”

Around her, the rest of the girls were scarfing down pizza like it was their job. Ariel was picking toppings off of her slice and stacking them up on her plate. Next to her, Soju was picking up Ariel’s discarded toppings and popping them like tic-tacs. A'Keria had her face held sideways and Silky was playfully aiming a slice everywhere but her mouth “Gurl Imma get acne ‘cause of you” --“Serves you right, how about you break out like the rest of us”. 

“It’s good,” Ra'Jah reassured Brooke, dabbing grease from her chin with a paper napkin. “We’ve all taken bets about when you first got laid. The losers are gonna take back their drinks like you did--”

“Go Hard Hytes!” Scarlet yelled, holding her cup in the air. 

_ Ah,  _ Brooke noticed, _ so the nickname has circulated. _ She shot a fake-friendly look at Shuga.  _ Great.  _ “I’ll have you remeber the age of consent in Ottawa is sixteen,” she cautioned the room.

“It’s the same in Michigan, but I was gettin’ dicked down before then,” said Kahanna. 

_ Figures. _ Brooke rolled her eyes and recrossed her legs. “Okay,” she relented. “Everybody’s guesses in? I won’t be spoiling anything?” A lineup of girls nodded. “Out of pure curiosity,” said Brooke, getting ready to take a bite of pizza crust. “Anyone put their not-money on me still being a virgin?” 

Soju raised her hand. “Just in case you’re gonna surprise us.”

A'Keria raised her plastic cup in the air. “I don’t know why y’all think Brooke, the Anxiety monster, has ever done anything more than hold hands.”

Brooke nodded, pointing at A'Keria. “Very valid. But you’re both wrong, so bottoms up bitches.” After swallowing a bite of pizza, she added: “But I appreciate the need to be different. I relate.” 

Soju looked worriedly into her empty teacup and pressed a palm to her stomach. “That went down alarmingly easy.”

“I know,” said A'Keria. “That’s why we only got out the little cups.”

Brooke gulped down some of her soda. “God, what’s the youngest you weirdos think I lost it?”

“Fourteen,” answered Silky. “Hot girls get all kinds of attention real early.”

“Who else thinks fourteen?” asked Brooke, her face screwed up in disgust. No hands went up. “Good, we’ve got a bunch of law-abiding citizens.”

Scarlet let out a blast of a laugh, as did Ra'Jah, Vanessa, and Silky.

Brooke held up her hands and leaned back into the easy chair. She had taken over the biggest chair when it was decided she’d be the center of attention. “I’m not gonna even try and unpack whatever that was,” said Brooke. “But I definitely was not having sex at fourteen. Knock it back, Silk.”

Silky shook her head. “Shoulda just said sixteen like everybody else.”

Kahanna, Mercedes, and Scarlet had said Brooke lost it at fifteen, and all three had to down the rest of their drinks. 

“I’m surprised you held out ‘til sixteen, Scar!” exclaimed Shuga, her tone coated with condescension. 

Scarlet threw her hair over her shoulder. “Some things are worth waiting for.”

_ “Was _ it?” questioned Shuga skeptically. 

Scarlet brought her unsweet ice tea to her lips. Batting her eyelashes, she said, “Definitely not.” A roar of laughter rolled around the circle. After swallowing, Scarlet shouted “I regret nothing!”

Nina, Ariel, Yvie, and Vanessa all guessed that Brooke lost her virginity at sixteen. It was a safe bet, it was the average age most teens first had sex. It was also wrong. 

“MotherFUCK!” exclaimed Vanessa.

“You’re more of a later bloomer than I thought,” said Nina.

“Post sixteen is not LATE,” Brooke retorted. “Post nineteen is late bloomer territory. I read it on the internet, it has to be true.”

“I think it actually is.” said Nina, after swallowing what amounted to a laughably small amount of alcohol for someone of her build. Their hall rep was the size of a linebacker drinking from a teacup hardly bigger than a thimble. “Who’s left? Nina asked the group. “Ra'Jah, Honey and Shuga. One of you has to be right.”

Brooke turned to Shuga. “What did you think it was?”

Shuga shoved a bite of pizza into her cheek so she could talk, making her look kind of like a lopsided hamster. Brooke had to stifle a giggle at the sight of it. That may have been the fairy liquer hitting, finally. Shuga was looking at her. Brooke shook her head, trying to wipe the smile from her lips. “I’m sorry, what?”

Shuga pointed at Brooke’s wide grin. “Ladies, take a look at your future! This giggling, smiling mess will be you in a half hour! But not me, because I won! I know my roommate, what can I say?”

Brooke, still smiling, shook her head. “I didn’t hear a word you said.”

Shuga was already victory dancing in her seat. “I said you did it for the first time, once you became a legal adult.”

“At eighteen?” asked Brooke, her voice sounding weirdly echoey. Shuga’s glasses -- she’d been wearing them all night -- glinted in the light. Her skin also reflected the light. Blinking hard, Brooke realized everything was reflective, all the other girls’ faces were shiny, almost plastic-looking. 

Ra'Jah snapped her fingers right in front of Brooke’s face, forcing her to focus. “Mama.” Ra'Jah’s voice was firm. It only echoed a little. 

Brooke blinked. “Yes. Hi. I’m paying attention.”

Ra'Jah spread her hands between the arms of Brooke’s chair, extended her one leg back so she was doing a king of lunge. Brooke remembered lunges. Recalled the burn. “Look here,” instructed Ra'Jah, pointing to her mouth. Brooke obeyed. Ra'Jah’s lipstick was shiny. She wondered what her lips felt like to touch. She hadn’t realized she’d been reaching up to touch until Ra'Jah grabbed her hand to stop her. Brooke found Ra'Jah’s eyes again. “How old were you when you first had sex?”

“Seventeen.” Brooke’s mouth moved. Her voice sounded robotic, like she was talking through a fan.

Somewhere, Shuga shrieked. Ra'Jah fist-pumped in the air and whirled around to high-five Honey.  

“Wait…” said Brooke, her voice far away. She looked up at Ra'Jah. “How’d  _ you _ know? I barely know you.” She looked around the room. “Even Nina… Nessa… Yvie -- everyone got it wrong.” 

Ra'Jah and Honey were busy doing dance moves. Someone had cranked up the party playlist. Whitney was playing. Brooke couldn’t resist the call of Whitney, rising out of her chair to bounce along with Ra’Jah and Honey. 

“Luck,” seethed Shuga. “Pure dumb luck.”

 

The party devolved into dancing and chatting while the girls waited for their shares of the fairy liquor to kick in. Brooke was staring off into space when Ariel pulled up onto the low stool next to her chair. The underclassman folded her arms on the arm of Brooke’s chair and rested her chin on her arms. “What was it like?” she asked.

“Mm?”

“Your first time,” said Ariel, her voice soft. “What was it like?”

Brooke almost said  _ my first time doing what _ before she remembered. She was somewhat coming back into her senses, but only vaguely. Enough to process a couple simple thoughts, bring up the memory, or what she could remember. Looking at Ariel, it was clear she had someone in mind. Her energy was fuzzy, like of like being in love, but especially the young kind of obsessive love. Innocent. Brooke hadn’t been innocent in a long time. She didn’t know what she should tell the girl. She was what -- fifteen? 

Thankfully, Brooke’s heightened state cushioned the bad memories, fogged over the worst bits. “I wasn’t in a very good place when it happened,” she said honestly, yet dreamily. “I made some decisions and did some things during that time I’m not proud of and don’t really like to remember, but…” her gaze drifted. She remembered Scarlet. So blatantly saying no it wasn’t good the first time, but she regretted nothing. So she told Ariel that. Seeing the far-away look in the girls’ face though, Brooke reached out and took her hand. “But hey, maybe it would be different, I would have liked it better I think if it was with someone I cared about. You know? Also take it slow. There’s no rush.”

Ariel nodded, and a lopsided smile spread across her mouth. “I mean, I kinda have to wait,” she said. “The person I’d like to be my first is still in the infirmary.”

Brooke felt her face light up. “Plastique?!” her voice came out louder than intended. She felt eyes on her, sensed their attention at the edge of her consciousness. She didn’t  _ care. _ “I’m so happy for you, she’s a gorgeous girl, like really absolutely stunningly gorgeous.”

Somewhere, someone cautioned “Easy, Hytes, the girl is sixteen.” 

Brooke didn’t listen. She was so happy for Ariel she felt like she heard singing. “Oh, she has to like you back, doesn’t she?” Brooke seized Ariel’s hand harder, pulling it to her sternum. She had never been so enraptured by someone else’s relationship before this moment.

Ariel shifted, blushing somewhat. “Oh, I dunno…”

“Plastique totally feels the same.” Nina’s voice invited itself into the conversation. Brooke looked up at her, standing behind her chair.

Ariel blushed. “You don’t know that for sure.”

Nina scoffed. “I see her almost every day but sure,  _ I _ don’t know what I’m talking about.”

“Mmm,” squealed Ra'Jah nearby. “This tea is HOT.”

“Is it, though?” asked Shuga. 

Before Ariel could leave Brooke’s side, she squeezed the younger girl’s hand and brought her close. “Hey. How are you feeling? With the… thing.”

Ariel shook her head, starting to giggle. “What?”

Brooke motioned vaguely toward Ariel’s abdomen. “You know, the… the red tide.”

Ariel shook with a fit of laughter, her whole face going almost as pink as her hair.

“Oh my God.” Brooke rolled her eyes, raising her voice unintentionally. “THE BLOOD THAT’S LEAKING OUT OF YOUR VAGINA!”

Brooke’s outburst only succeeded in making Ariel laugh harder, rolling around on the ground and pounding her fists into the carpet, howling. Brooke turned back towards Nina and shrugged. “Guess she’s feeling better.”

 

Someone, probably Ariel, brought up the idea of playing Truth or Dare. In their current state, it was gonna be hard for anyone to lie. Brooke said as much, only for A’keria to say, “No one’s gonna be able to lie in this room-- can’t pull any bullshit with Bullshit Bertha in earshot.” 

“Bullshit Bertha?” Brooke giggled.

“Oh my God!” exclaimed Yvie, her eyes wide and bright. “You don’t know about the Callout Cockatiel!”

“The fuck is a callout… callout-- what’d you say?”

“Errybody shut up!” yelled Silky. “I’m gonna tell ‘er the story. So. Last year, this girl Aja graduated, she was a real bitch, not like a bad person, like a real person, you know what I’m saying? She was always keepin’ it real and shit, and she didn’t like the idea of people being able to be stupid with her gone, so she trained this bird-- she trained this bird to be able to reco’nize some bullshit. So whenever someone says something that outright ain’t true, this bird calls ‘Bullshit!”

Brooke squinted. “How does it know if you’re lying, though?”

“It’s like, truth charmed,” answered Vanessa. She was over by the ipod again, and she opened the cabinet to reveal an elegantly carved birdcage, with a vibrant yellow bird inside. Vanessa went over to the snack table to grab a handful of sunflower seeds to feed to the Bullshit Bird. The little dinosaur pecked at the seeds in Vanessa’s hand and Brooke couldn’t stop thinking about Snow White from those Shrek movies where she sang and she got all the animals to fuck up those palace guards. Vanessa probably sounded nice when she sang.

They decided to do truth or dare, and have Brooke start. She didn’t really know what to ask, until she looked over at Ariel, sitting on the floor in front of Scarlet, the older girl playing with her hair. The pink-haired girl picked truth. Brooke thought Ariel was about the age and personality to maybe have some kinda crush on her teacher, so she asked “Do you have a crush on a teacher?”

Ariel giggled and said no.

A sharp-sounding cry of “BULLSHIT!” rang out from the birdcage. Everyone burst out laughing and Ariel went even redder than she already was. 

“Girl, who is it?!” squealed Kahanna. 

Ariel wasn’t forced to answer anymore, but she couldn’t use fine reasoning at this point in the night. She held her fists up to her mouth as she laughed hysterically. “It’s not a boy, I’ll tell you that!”

“We know that, doll,” chuckled Nina.

Soju set her legs up against the back of the laZboy, with her round head hanging down toward the floor. She kicked her feet in the air and smirked.  _ “I _ know who it is.”

“Do tell us the tea, Soj,” said Honey at the same time Ariel snarled “I swear to fucking God Soju if you tell I will shave your eyebrows off while you sleep.”

“Good.” Soju smiled with fiendish glee. “I can’t wait to look like the alien I feel like inside.”

“Way to go, Soj, stand up to bullies!” cheered Scarlet. She received a swat from Ariel for her comment, which she shrugged off. 

“Okay, okay,” said Soju. She took the extra few seconds for her to lie sideways in the big chair with her legs hanging off the end, drawing the tension in the room until it was quieter than it had been all night. Finally, the girl popped her tongue and said, “It’s the potions instructor.”

A collective scream was let out by the whole crowd. Brooke flinched, her oversensitive sense of caution waking up from beneath the magic haze. She turned to Shuga. “No one can hear us from in here, can they?”

Shuga waved her hand. “Absolute silencer charm.”

Brooke smiled. “Wicked.”

In the meantime, the rest of the girls had badgered Ariel until she at last screamed her confession: “I WANNA BEND MRS GINSBERG OVER THE FRONT DESK AND FUCK HER WITH MY STIRRING ROD! ARE YOU  _ HAPPY _ NOW?!”

A beat of silence passed as the company of young women waited for another cry of bullshit. When none came, the crowd broke out into smattering of applause, wolf whistles,  _ ‘whoop’ _ s and  _ ‘yeaaaa girl’ _ s. After a few seconds, Soju spoke up, her eyebrows lowered in contemplation. “You know what’s most interesting to me, Ariel,” she said. “Is that in this scenario, you’re the top.”

Another roar of scream-laughter ripped through the gathered girls. Brooke laughed along; she couldn’t help it. But her heart ached seeing the girls pile onto Ariel over and over, so she turned to Ariel and asked if she wanted to take her turn. Ariel shook her head and told Brooke to give it another go. 

Brooke looked at Scarlet. “You wanna ask me or want me to ask you?”

Scarlet uncrossed and recrossed her legs. “I’m asking you. Truth or dare.”

Scarlet beamed when Brooke chose dare, mostly to get the attention off of Ariel as quickly as possible. In her feathery voice, Scarlet told Brooke, “Kiss whoever in this room you have a crush on.”

Brooke regarded Scarlet with skepticism. “Thing is, it’s not just one person, like, I can work my way around the whole room or do you want me to pick a top 3 or--”

“Lemme rephrase, lemme rephrase.” Scarlet waved her hand. “Kiss the person who you’re  _ most _ attracted to.”

Brooke looked across the circle at Scarlet. She sucked in air through her teeth. “I don’t think I even  _ know _ who I’m most attracted to.”

A murmur fell among the girls, whispers of confusion. Scarlet, however, was unintimidated. “Fine,” she said with an impatient shrug. “I dare you to kiss me.”

Without hesitation, Brooke pulled herself up far enough so she could crawl past the others, deaf to the chirps and hoots of the collected audience as she made her way over to where Scarlet was sitting. Scarlet’s silk robe hung around her elbows, pooling on the carpet. Brooke steadied herself on her knees in front of Scarlet, placing one hand on the other girl’s arm, her skin cool to the touch, her thumb registering the smoothness of the expensive garment. Despite her fearless exterior, Brooke saw nervousness in Scarlet’s eyes. She hesitated momentarily to give Scarlet the chance to call mercy. 

Scarlet blinked, and the vulnerability was gone from her eyes. “You gonna back out?” she husked. Brooke gave a slight smile and shook her head. Then she closed the distance between them. 

She didn’t see A’Keria raise an eyebrow at Vanessa, whose hands were balled into fists by her sides. She didn’t see how Ra’Jah raised her eyebrow and checked an imaginary watch. She didn’t see Soju relaxing onto her elbows, decidedly preferring to see Brooke making out with someone she hasn’t been crushing on for years. 

At last, Vanessa loudly cleared her throat. “I THINK YOU’VE COMPLETED THE DARE!”

A giggle rippled through the room. Brooke gently pulled back and made her way back to her spot, a smug smile on her face. Scarlet licked her lips performatively. 

“So how does she taste?” prompted Honey. 

The redhead swung her hair back and forth, giving boudoir eyes. Scarlet ran her tongue across the front of her teeth, just for the drama, before purring, “She tastes like  _ mouth.” _

Brooke fell apart along with the rest of the girls. When the roar died down, she shrugged. “Well, I thought you tasted like cherry, so werk.”

Even Vanessa laughed at that, her screaming cackle standing out among the crowd.

Next, Scarlet dared Kahanna to let herself be test dummy for Ariel. Kahanna looked playfully fearful at the idea. Ariel angry-pouted. “I’m not bad at magic, you guys!” 

“I know,” reassured Scarlet. “I just wanna see Kahanna look ugly for once.”

“Oh. That I can do!” Ariel bounced to her feet and stretched out her hands. Allegedly, the kids in the UK used wants still. In America, there had been a shortage of wands a few decades back and the wizarding world figured out the wand is pretty unnecessary for most things. As a direct result, most witches and wizards had never used a wand, able to focus their abilities into their fingers -- or, for the real overachievers, their minds. Ariel took up a stance, holding her fingers apart while she closed her eyes to focus. Stepping forward, a bolt of yellow light erupted from Ariel’s right hand and struck Kahanna right in her chest. 

Stumbling back, the model-esque student at first couldn’t feel anything different -- she still had all her fingers, and her body hadn’t been morphed. Ariel flounced back to her spot amid praise. It wasn’t until Yvie pointed at Kahanna’s head and started up with that wicked laugh of hers that Kahanna thought to run to the mirror on the wall. Seeing herself, the girl covered her mouth with her hand. Her hair had been turned the ugliest shade of yellow Kahanna had ever seen. Kahanna whirled around.  _ “Piss yellow, _ Ver-sayse?” she demanded.

Ariel shrugged. “It should wear off in a few weeks.”

_ “WEEKS?!” _

Before Kahanna could injure Ariel, Nina stepped up for crowd control. “She’s just kidding,” Nina said. “A spell like that can’t last more than a few hours.”

“You’re sure?” snapped Kahanna, still staring daggers at Ariel. 

“Yes, I’m sure, now go, it’s your turn.” Nina was in peak Mom Mode, and Brooke felt her chest do the Thing it did sometimes. She rested her head on Shuga’s shoulder and waited for the next dare. Kahanna tried to dare Ariel to fix what she’d done, but the party vetoed that idea. Instead, when Kahanna sat down, she looked around the circle, her eyes coming to rest on Vanessa. Rolling her eyes, she said, “‘Ness, dare you to seven minutes in heaven with Canada.”

Vanessa’s mouth fell open. Before she could say anything, Brooke questioned: “Wait, the whole country??”

“Just you, idiot!” Soju snapped.

It was semi-awkward for a moment as Brooke and Vanessa shared a look, each silently asking the other if they wanted to back out. When neither did, they rose to their feet and headed towards the door together. Yvie went over to a cabinet and pulled out a cooking timer, setting it to 7.

Brooke wasn’t accustomed to the feeling of her palms sweating, but that’s the sensation she was experiencing in the moments leading up to her first kiss with Vanessa. They settle on the carpet just outside of the room, with the door cracked an inch or so. Brooke scratches the back of her neck, hesitating. From inside, they could hear Silky shriek, “TIMER AINT START TIL THE LIPS LOCK!”

Brooke let out an uncomfortable laugh. “So, when, like, what do we--”

Her words got cut off by Vanessa cupping her hands over Brooke’s shoulders through Nina’s tee, and pressing her lips to Brooke’s. 

It was… odd, and it was soft, and it was… nice. There was a warm feeling in Brooke’s belly that told her everything would be alright as long as Vanessa kept kissing her. Maybe it was the fairy liquor, but then, things had been getting way less shiny, and she felt more sober in general than she’d felt most of the night. Brooke placed one of her hands on Vanessa’s hipbone, the other on the shorter girl’s cheek. Her eyes have been closed, so she snuck a peek and her stomach flipped. Vanessa, in the small ray of light that seeped through the cracked door, her skin so soft-looking, her hair full of waves and ringlets framing her face. Brooke was about to pull back for a breather, before noticing with a squeal, that she couldn’t.

Vanessa made a small confused sound and her eyes slid open as she also went to break the kiss, and the panic in her eyes mirrored Brooke’s when she, too, realized they were stuck together at the lips. Two teenage girls shrieking through their noses triggered a roll of laughter from inside the party room. Brooke and Vanessa exchanged a mutual glare before turning their lazer eyes back to the cracked door. From inside, Yvie called “Don't worry! It only lasts until the timer finishes. You’ve got four more minutes!”

Brooke let out a beleaguered sigh, which Vanessa mirrored. They sat, lips still connected for a beat of silence before turning their gazes back to each other. Their eyes had softened by now. Each gave a shrug, telepathically shared a ‘well, fuck it’ before resuming their makeout session. Vanessa rose up on her knees and dragged her fingernails through Brooke’s damp, unbrushed hair. Brooke hummed in satisfaction and pushed down on Vanessa’s hips, pulling her into her lap. Vanessa was working her hand up Brooke’s side, under her oversized tee, dangerously close to places Brooke really,  _ really _ wanted her to touch, when the door swung all the way open. 

“THAT’S ENOUGH! YA TIME’S UP! MAKE ROOM FOR JESUS!”

 

Vanessa and Brooke looked all around the room, examining patterns on the rugs and furniture as if the weavings held the secrets to eternal life. Vanessa, sitting silently with her legs crossed, wouldn’t even look her friends in the eyes as she sipped her cherry soda. Brooke basically hid under the arm of the easy chair -- now inhabited by Nina. Her rattled brain could have written a thesis on the politics of who sat in The Chair at different points in the party, but after that kiss, she could barely string a sentence together. Not that she’d been that eloquent beforehand. 

Brooke felt alarmingly sober. Her hand shook as she raised her red plastic cup to her lips. The rim came away with lipgloss smear. Across the room, A'Keria handed Vanessa a tissue to wipe off her mouth. Nina prodded Brooke’s shoulder and handed her the whole Kleenex box.

Of the two of them, Vanessa was the first to speak again. Clearing her throat, she raised her foghorn-like voice. “What I wanna know is,” she demanded of the room. “Who pulled that fuckery with the lip-lockin’ charm?”

There were a few scream-laughs. Scarlet, Kahanna and Ariel pointed fingers at Yvie and Silky. Brooke felt something break behind her ribs. “Yvie? Really?” her voice came out so quiet she thought Yvie wouldn’t hear across the circle. 

The bald girl may not have heard, but she did see some of the hurt plain on Brooke’s face.  “Okay, no, it was my  _ idea, _ I was like ‘you know what would be funny’ -- but Silk put me up to it!”

“AY! AY! AY! IT WASN’T JUST ME! MERCEDES BACKED ME UP SHE SAID IT’D BE FUNNY!”

“Uh-uh, no!” The shortest girl held up her palms. “I never said to  _ do _ it, I just said it was funny when I’d seen it done back home!”

“At home, where?” asked Kahanna. “Like, back in Africa?”

Mercedes got a very confused look on her face and had to process what Kahanna had said for a good half minute. Finally, she leaned forward and, with more enunciation than she every usually gave, said to Kahanna, “No,  _ Minneapolis.” _

Brooke couldn't help the spluttering laugh that erupted from her at Mercedes’ serious delivery. After the tide of cackling and hysterical laughter died down, Brooke felt far more at ease than she had a few minutes ago. 

“Awlright,” said Ra'Jah after a while. “Yvie’s the sick bitch who came up with the idea, I think she owes ‘Ness and Brooke Lynn a dare to make up for it, don’t you think?” The group agreed, and the athletic girl waltzed over to a cabinet, pulling out a handful of booze shooters filled with some silvery glimmering fluid.

“Is that-- invisibility potion??” 

Ra'Jah quirked an eyebrow at Brooke. “Sure is. And Yvie, dare you to join me on a sprint across campus.”

“Our clothes won’t go invisible, though,” said Yvie.

“So we won’t wear any.” Ra'Jah shrugged, her tone carefree.

Yvie grinned evilly. “I like the way your brain works, O’Hara.”

Silky leaned over to A'Keria. “Your cousin's such a slut.”

The senior leaned back and crossed her heels over Silky’s lap. “I know.”

Ra'Jah handed Yvie her tube. Before they knocked their potions back, Ra'Jah leaned around the taller girl. “Hey ‘Nessa? You wanna join?”

“Uh… why?”

Ra'Jah shrugged. “Cool night air might do you some good, help you recover from that hot hot action you just got.”

Brooke wanted to stand up and ask if Ra'Jah had any leftover potion. She was seriously ready to disappear right about now. And, to her surprise, so was Vanessa. 

The short girl stood up and sauntered her way over to the others. Brooke stared in half-horror-half-arousal as Vanessa and the others knocked back their single serving potion tubes and, within thirty seconds, faded into thin air, with the exception of their clothes. Brooke felt her lungs hold her breath hostage as she watched the suggestion of Vanessa’s body quickly cast off its’ top and short shorts. Brooke’s body had a very confused reaction to this sight, and she forgot that while she couldn’t see Yvie, Ra'Jah, or Vanessa, they sure as shit could see her.

“What’cha lookin’ at, Canada?” prompted Ra’Jah’s disembodied voice.

Brooke flinched and averted her gaze from the three piles of clothes on the floor: two piles of comfy sleeping/loungewear, and what was left of Yvie’s uniform. Brooke’s afternoon hookey-buddy had stripped down to her underpants and camisole during the evening, and someone -- probably Nina -- had loaned her a robe, which lay discarded on the floor along with the rest of their clothes. 

The invisible girls scampered quickly out of the party, wanting to make the most of their temporary superpowers. In the meantime, the rest of the party wanted to continue the truth or dare, getting personal with their questions. 

“Do you think you remember the most selfish use of magic you’ve ever done?” asked Soju. “Like, I had a friend who used magic to get herself to be Prom Queen.”

“That’s kinda fucked up,” said Ariel. 

“I mean it’s just prom queen,” said Shuga. “Not like it actually matters.”

“I’m sure it matters to some people,” Honey offered. ”Obviously mattered to her.”

“So what you’re asking is,” Akeria said. “What’s a selfish use of magic you’ve done?”

“The most selfish,” amended Soju.

“Right,” added Shuga. “And you’re asking who?”

“Everybody, I guess.”

“Okay, group question!” Silky joined in at her usual volume. “I’ll start.”

“Yeah, we know you’ve had some selfish moments.” Scarlet rolled her eyes.

“Pot, kettle, bitch,” Silky retorted, pointing between herself and Scarlet. The redhead nodded in acceptance. 

Both Silky and Scarlet confessed to pulling some kind of stunt to make a crush notice them, or have a higher opinion of them. Shmoozing turned out to be a common thread among the selfish magic stories, as both Mercedes and Kahanna admitted to trying to cast love spells on past crushes. Brooke was scandalized to find out that Nina actually had a story, but any shock melted when the house rep confessed that she put a silencer charm on an annoying family member. Shuga said she was too afraid of her family to pull any kind of shit on them, but she had humiliated some bullies back home, and she seemed very proud of that fact.

As the question made its way around the group, Brooke felt a sense of dread. She didn’t want to answer, because she knew she wouldn’t be able to get away with only telling the surface level stuff like so many of the others could. She wasn’t proud of r any of her behavior during her Spiral months, but she’ll always have it on her conscience that yeah, she did use people, she did abuse magic, she burned bridges and broke laws-- all as a way of punishing herself for her personal failings and inadequacies. 

Finally, the moment of Brooke’s dread arrived. “What about you, Canada? You really little miss perfect like you seem?”

“Definitely not.” Brooke scoffed. It sounded vulgar. 

“Oh this’ll be interesting,” cooed Shuga. “Do tell.”

Brooke shook her head. “I don’t have a fun story, it’s just me being the absolute worst.”

Silky chimed in. “Yeah, but I feel like when people like you, who have your kinda temperament, say ‘oh I’m a terrible person’ it’s like when That Bitch said she got a ‘terrible grade’ in school, and it turns out she got a 95 like fuck off!”

Brooke pursed her lips and nodded, feeling The Ick take over her body, starting from her throat.  _ Please, Silky, please go on a tangent and detract all the attention and focus from me so nobody fucking looks at me right now I’m disgusting.  _

By the grace of the Goddess, Brooke’s prayers were answered. The sounds of raucous laughter leaked in from the hall -- the invisible girls returning. Nina grabbed up the girls’ clothes and skipped over to open the door for them. “Welcome back ladies, how was the-- WHAT are you wearing?”

“Flag from the Brown Cow Hall,” Vanessa managed from in between giggles.

“We about to be in so much trouble,” Ra'Jah beamed.

“That was so awesome,” Yvie panted.

“But you’ll never believe what we saw!” Vanessa and Ra'Jah bounced up and down excitedly. The girls clutched the three-by-five flag around their privates, a nipple popping out once in a while. Unfortunately for Brooke, never one of Vanessa’s, as the flag could pretty much clothe her whole body if she needed it to. 

Nina handed the girls their clothes and had them change in the hall, which Brooke offered up a silent thanks for, as her poor gay heart wasn’t gonna be able to take that. The girls rejoined the party once they were suitable for primetime television. They sat on the floor in the middle of the circle of peers, reminding Brooke of Duck, Duck, Goose. She wondered if her housemates would be down to play if she brought it up. It might be a lot more fun with alcohol. 

High on adrenaline, Vanessa, Yvie, and Ra’Jah talked over each other, made comments and had whole side conversations until Nina forced them to focus so they could actually relay what they’d seen on their spy mission.

 “Oh my God, so--”

“We got up to the windows of the Butterflies--”

“AKA the Brown Cows.”

“And we were looking at their kinda living room area-- by the way they get a living room, why don’t we get a living room?”

“We’re  _ in _ our living room,” said Nina.

“But these bitches get a pink fireplace!” RaJah asserted. “How’s that fair?”

Nina spoke up again as the voice of reason.“No one said they wanted a pink fireplace. Most things are possible with magic, but to receive, you gotta ask.” 

“Damn, West always in with the Philosophy 101,” Yvie teased.

“But what did you see?!” Mercedes cried out, soon echoed by Honey, Scarlet and Silky.

“Kameron and Mayhem!” exclaimed Vanessa, bouncing up and down on her knees. Ra’Jah made absurd kissy-face noises, complemented by turning her back and hugging herself to simulate making out. 

While the rest of the group laughed, Brooke felt a little jilt in the heart. Of course Kameron wasn’t hers to be jealous over. In fact, she told herself, she was happy for her and Mayhem. She remembered how they playfully teased each other in class. She’d thought it was just friendly banter at the time, but maybe not. And anyway, it was none of her business. Brooke wanted to ask if they saw Asia with anybody from her house, but she didn’t want to raise any suspicion.

“And oh my God, that’s not even the best part!” exclaimed Yvie. “While we were looking in on them through the window, fucking--”

“FUCKING JASON!”

“Fucking Jason!”

“Jason’s the groundskeeper.” Vanessa leaned around Yvie to look at Brooke for probably the first time since their kiss. “He’s also super hot.”

“SO hot!” echoed Silky. “I wanna climb that man like a tree.”

Brooke nearly did a spit take for the upteenth time that night. 

“Oh it could have been so bad, though,” said Yvie. “I saw him coming right when Ra’Jah looked at me and I knew she was looking at me ‘cause you know invisibility potion is wearing off when you start to see, like, the outline of people?”

“So we was  _ naked _ , breaking curfew  _ and _ about to get caught by  _ the _ sexiest member of the staff.”

“How’d you get away?” Brooke gasped, totally caught up in the story. She pulled her knees to her chest, hugging herself. 

“I grabbed a rock the size of my hand and chucked it in the opposite direction,” said Ra’Jah. “Then we grabbed each other and the banner off the buildin’ and hauled ass back here.”

Ariel giggled, lifting her head from Nina’s lap. “How’re you gonna get it back to them without getting caught?”

Vanessa looked down at the wrinkled-up banner she held in her hands. “Huh,” she said. “Didn’t think o’ that.”

Yvie craned her neck to get a look at the snack tables. “Is there any pizza left?”

 

“Canadians are famous for being polite and constantly apologising for things,” said Yvie. “Write an apology letter to someone in the school.”

Brooke rolled her eyes. “I would have done it in person anyway--”

Yvie held up a finger. “But!” she added with a smirk. “I dare you to make it a howler.”

A chorus of  _ ooooooh _ fell over the assembled crowd. Brooke’s heart sank, but at least she knew who she was going to write to. Brooke asked for a pen and paper

“You gonna make it out to the Creatures instructor for skipping class today?” asked Scarlet haughtily. 

Mercedes leaned over to call the redhead out. “Girl, you didn’t go either!”

“I had more pressing matters to attend to.” Scarlet tucked her cheek into her shoulder and examined the splitting tips of her hair.

Silky snorted. “Like what, bitch?”

Scarlet licked her pink lips and eyed Silky knowingly, but said nothing. 

“Mm. Fine then, ho, keep your secrets.”

Brooke scratched her name at the bottom of the page and folded the letter into an envelope. Nina offered her a sticker with their house logo and Brooke sealed her fate with the last incantation that would turn her apologetic letter into an aggressive howler. She hoped Asia wouldn’t be too embarrassed when she opened it. 

Scarlet’s secret reason for ditching was a fine distraction from Brooke’s growing sense of dread about the letter. It was her turn to ask, so what the hell. “Truth or dare, Scar.”

The other girl rolled her eyes. “Dare, obviously.”

“Dare you to 20 questions.” Brooke took a breath and tossed her hair over her shoulder. 

Scarlet’s face contorted in confusion. “I’m pretty sure that’s a truth, so no.”

Brooke smiled. “It’s a game. So is 7 Minutes in Heaven.” She glanced at Vanessa, who was watching Scarlet with sly interest. “Dare you to play, Scarlet.”

Scarlet groaned. “Fine. Only yes/no questions.”

“That  _ is _ how the game usually goes.”

Scarlet rolled her eyes. “The reason wasn’t animal, vegetable, or mineral.” 

Brooke beamed. “That’s one less question I have to ask. Thanks for volunteering.” 

Scarlet set her jaw. Her killer glare bounced right off the Canadian.

“Question one,” started Brooke. “Did you ditch class today?”

“Yeah.”

“Were you alone?”

“No.” Scarlet popped her tongue and the girls let out another round of murmurs and  _ oooh _ s. 

Brooke swiped hair behind her ear. She gazed into Scarlet’s eyes, unafraid, unapologetic. They seemed to say ‘go on. Try me bitch.’ Brooke took the challenge. “Were there two or more people with you?”

Scarlet smirked. “Yes.”

“Were they other students?”

“No.”

“Did you leave campus?”

“That’s five, just so you know. I’m keeping track.”

Brooke gave a joyless smile. Kept looking into Scarlet’s eyes. The other girl never hid from Brooke’s gaze. She admired that. “Answer the question.”

Scarlet dragged her teeth over her bottom lip. “Yes, I left campus.”

“How is everybody just leaving campus all the damn time?!” squawked Vanessa. Brooke, among others, erupted in a fit of laughter. “Seriously!” she exclaimed. “You can’t just fucking walk-- it’s five fucking miles to the border! Uber and Lyft don’t come out here, we ain’t got no main road, how y’all just leave all the damn time?!”

“Some of us have portkey privileges,” said Nina, sipping from a red plastic cup. 

“Once you hit eighteen you have the right to leave campus,” offered Yvie. “I mean they track activity within the borders, but nobody cares unless you commit come kind of crime.”

“Like if you snap-travel to some secret military base, or anywhere in DC besides the national mall,” Ra’Jah filled in.

Brooke eyed up Ra’Jah suspiciously. “Why do you know that?”

“This country’s always paranoid about terrorism,” Shuga drawled. 

“I guess we kinda have to be,” said Ariel, shrugging.

Mercedes stared into the geometric rug. “My family and many others weren’t allowed to snap-travel for seven years. We could only use public portkeys that keep track of who went where and when.”

“Wait-- why?” Vanessa leaned around Silky to see.

“Xenophobia is my guess,” Shuga deadpanned. 

Mercedes nodded and took a sip of her drink. Swallowing, she waved her hands. “Anyway,” she said. “Brooke, you were on question five I think?”

Scarlet sighed.

Brooke asked Scarlet if she’d left the country (she hadn’t), if she’d snap-traveled (she had), and if the other people were also magicians (they were). It took two questions to gather that Scarlet had met up with two people, and her tenth question was whether there was a romantic or sexual aspect to her visit. Scarlet said no, and the Bird cried Bullshit.

The circle let out a collective scream, and Scarlet couldn’t hide the faint blush that rose to her cheeks. She let out a cough and rolled her eyes, admitting “Fine, yes, there was a romantic reason for the visit. Are you happy now?”

The following silence communicated the bird’s approval.

Scarlet flared her nostrils at Brooke. “Halfway through, you ready to quit this charade?”

“Not quite.” Brooke spread her legs in front of her in a stretch. She tried not to notice Vanessa’s eyes on her bare legs. Yvie was interested too. As was Nina. Curiouser and curiouser. 

“Scarlet, do any of us in this room know the people you met up with?”

She took a moment to size up the members of the slumber party. They watched Scarlet sort through her buzzed brain and everyone's connections, until she finally arrived at her answer: “In  _ this _ room, no, I don’t think so.”

“Does Plastique know them?” Nina blurted out. 

Brooke nodded. “Yeah, what she said.”

Scarlet let out a beleaguered sigh. “Yes.”

Nina excitedly sat forward. “Have they visited Plastique in the infirmary?”

Scarlet gave another sigh, her proud shoulders falling. Nina was too close to sussing her out for her to remain confident, and Brooke loved nothing more than watching the ever-confident Scarlet deflate in front of everyone. Maybe that made her a bad person. Shit. Whatever. It didn’t matter because Nina was ruling out suspect after suspect, and Scarlet was pulling further and further within herself. Until question 18, when Nina asked, “Did you go out and meet with Plastique’s sisters, Gia and Shangela?”

“Yes,” Scarlet pouted. “You’ve got me, okay? Can we fucking move on? When do we get to shut up and watch bad movies?”

“That’s a different slumber party you’re thinking of, gurl,” said Honey.

“Right,” Scarlet whined, standing up. “Where’s the alcohol?”

“We drank it all, remember?” quipped A’Keria.

“I didn’t mean the special stuff, I meant the regular shit.” Scarlet dragged her feet the whole eight steps to the refreshments table, her head lolling back. 

Ra’Jah got up. “I think we’ve got some tiny Jack Daniels-- yeah, over here.”

“Hey wait a second!” realized Ariel. “Scarlet! Which one d’you have a romantic connection with?” 

Scarlet turned around. “Hm?”

Ariel held her hands behind her back and bounced on her toes. “Plastique says Shangela likes bitchy, model-type girls.” 

The fire that flashed across Scarlet’s face -- if only for a second -- was answer enough.

“Oh my GOD I can’t wait to tell her you’re Shangie’s new toy! She’s gonna scream.”

Scarlet dumped a purse sized bottle of whiskey into her cup of root beer. “Fucking tell her, then,” she snapped. “See if I care.” Scarlet took a swig and immediately winced at the overwhelming taste of dark liquor. 

Silky sucked her teeth. “Oh, we see, alright.”

 

A second round of snacking took place, and the game died down a little. Kahanna was asked if she believed in aliens, and she gave the reasonable answer of “it’s mathematically unlikely that our planet is the only one that has life on it”. Soju got asked what she thought happens when we die and she quoted Keanu: “I know the ones who love us will miss us.” That brought the mood down, so, to compensate, Yvie said she thought our consciousness oozes out of our ears and we turn into worms. Brooke remembered a time when she thought about dying a lot, but never what came after. And she realized she had to get out of that headspace where these memories kept cropping up. She stood up and went to grab more snacks, even though she wasn’t hungry. 

When Brooke returned to the circle, popcorn bag in hand, the subject of embarrassing stories had come up. 

“So it was me, in the middle of a Charms class, and the mail comes in and I’ve never gotten a Howler before! So here’s baby Silky, opening the letter like a dumbass and that trade from Haus Otter is  _ right there _ — and i open it and I swear to God, y’all. My sis read me like a magazine, just put me in a lead coffin dropped me in the  _ ocean _ level read. And that boy just like a cartoon, I go to look at him and there’s just a fucking dust cloud in the shape of him.” The whole room was wheezing, doubled over panting, dabbing their eyes and holding their sides listening to Silky’s story. 

“Wait, you were actually embarrassed when that happened?” asked A’Keria. 

“Girl, yes!” Silky threw her hands in the air.

“‘Cause I was there and you just laughed it off like everything else—“

“Some people use humor as a coping mechanism, ‘Keer,” said Nina. 

“Exactly,” said Silky. “I wasn’t about to  _ act _ as embarrassed as I was.”

“Silky being emotionally vulnerable?” Yvie teased. “She’d die first.”

“Excuse me, ho, then what am I doing right now?”

“Deflecting.”

“Okay BITCH!”

Brooke jumped at how fast the energy changed, and how shrill Silky suddenly got. Her heart started hammering in her chest. She put her sugary soda down and decided to switch to water. Another ten seconds passed and Silky and Yvie were laughing and scratching like normal, but Brooke still couldn't calm her system. She leaned against the wall next to the snacks, watching the party from afar for another eight minutes that felt like a half hour. Brooke stuck her fingertips in her water and patted the cool moisture on the back of her neck. And that was when Nina came up for a refill.

“Hey,” Nina offered.

 A cry went up from the group and the girls briefly looked back to see Shuga and Ra’Jah lying on the floor about to arm wrestle. Brooke, eager to distract herself, said “Shug’s about to get creamed.”

Nina grabbed a handful of chocolate covered pretzels and dropped them on her plate. “You know one time the girls actually started a thunderdome in here.”

“No way. Really?” Brooke’s mouth fell open at the mental image. 

Nina nodded. “That was the Night of the Ogre Mead if I recall correctly.”

Brooke shook her head stiffly. It wasn’t easy to come out of her head, but Nina was trying.  “Wish I could have been a fly on the wall for that one… or maybe I don’t actually.” She hoped the house rep wouldn’t judge how delayed her reactions were. To her relief, Nina let out a laugh, the sound itself soothing.

In the circle, Ra’Jah let out a frustrated grunt. The way she smacked the floor and went storming back to her seat told Brooke she had misjudged her roommate’s strength. “Wow,” she said. “Remind me to never piss off Shuga.”

“Shuga isn’t an easy one to piss off,” Nina reassured. 

It was then that Scarlet craned her neck to see Brooke and Nina and called “Hey! This is a welcome party for  _ you, _ Canada. Quit being a wallflower, come sit, lemme braid that hair!”

As it turned out, getting her hair played with was exactly what Brooke needed to relax. She was able to be part of the circle and have some individual attention the whole time, which she found quite nice. 

She also found it cute how Vanessa’s nostrils flared watching her lean into Scarlet’s hands. Not that she noticed or anything. Not that she was looking at Vanessa any particular amount. 

“Brooke?”

“What? Oh, sorry I wasn’t paying attention.”

Scarlet smirked from above. “Silk wants to know truth or dare.”

“Oh. Uh. Truth.”

Silky leaned around A’Keria to look Brooke in the eye when her turn came. “Brooke Lynn. Do you think you’re better than other people?” Brooke’s brows furrowed while Silky explained: “‘Cause I feel like I’m getting these vibes off of you that I wanna know if that’s just me having a bad past with pretty skinny blondes or whatever.”

Scarlet held the end of Brooke’s braid in place while the Canadian shook her head. “No, I don’t think I’m superior or better than other people, no.”

A cry of “BULLSHIT!” sent a snicker through those assembled. Brooke blushed as even Scarlet let out an intrigued ‘oooh!’. 

Brooke rolled her eyes. “You all sound like second graders who just heard an adult say ‘crap’.”

“And  _ you _ lied,” said Silky smugly. “At least I know I was right.”

“Hang on.” Brooke’s brow furrowed and she sat forward, stretching to be able to see almost everyone in the circle. “Okay, fine. I  _ know _ I’m better than  _ some  _ people. Like rapists, and dictators and people who abuse their kids.” She was met with skeptical faces. Brooke threw her hands in the air. “No one in this room! Okay?! I don’t think I’m better than anyone here.”

She waited for the damning cry, but Brooke’s amended statement passed the bird barometer, the cockatiel busying herself preening under her wing. Brooke leaned heavily back into Scarlet. Silky was placated enough, and conversation returned to normal, but Brooke wasn’t able to relax again once Scarlet had stopped playing with her hair. She left the redhead’s side and crawled back to Nina’s right hand, resting her head against the house rep’s knee. 

“Brooke,” Nina prodded her gently.

Brooke groaned, having just been able to relax. 

“Sweetheart, you gotta ask someone truth or dare.”

“Oh.” Brooke rolled her eyes and called out Shuga, simply because she was the first name that came to mind. Shuga picked Truth, and Brooke asked: “If you could polyjuice yourself into any, like, celebrity or public figure, living or dead, for 24 hours, who?”

Shuga didn't even need time to think. “Trump, so I can make him renounce the white supremacists and possibly make him step down though I don’t think you can do that in 24 hours.” After a pause, she added, “I’d love to sign an executive order slashing the military budget in half and enstating a real socialized healthcare system, but again, that probably takes longer.”

“There’s a great many things the leader of the free world could do for the betterment of humanity,” said Honey, taking a sip of tea. “Too bad he’s a dingus.”

“You know,” mused Nina. “I go between thinking he’s the dumbest man on the planet to thinking he’s like a master tactician.”

“He’s a businessman,” said A’Keria cynically. “He knows what he wants and how much he can get away with on his way to getting it.”

The group nodded solemnly. A beat of silence passed before Vanessa squawked, “Well that got real depressin’.”

 

Brooke kept resisting the soda that Ra’Jah and Honey kept offering. She still felt like her atoms were buzzing from all she’d had, even though she’d crashed from all the caffeine hours ago. It was around two in the morning and what Brooke really wanted was to sleep, though at this point she dreaded silence. Once every hour, though, Brooke would force her body up, to do a stretch, an exercise, something. All the rest of the time, she stayed in a hazy sleep deprived state, one where Nina had to give her a shove to get her to focus.

She should have known silencing the bird wasnt gonna last for long. It did go unnoticed for a while, though. It wasn’t until Silky, and of course it was Silky, opened her mouth and cried “You’re a virgin, then I’m the fuckin’ Motha Superior!” that A’Keria, and of course it was A’Keria, called out “Hey, shouldn’t Aja Junior have called that?”

“Yeah, I was wondering,” said Soju. “I caught myself in a lie two minutes ago and was like, wait, that’s not right.” 

Vanessa scrunched up her brow. She grabbed a handful of trail mix and walked over to the bright yellow bird, which furiously tried to peck at the seed, but for whatever reason, could not open its beak. Vanessa stroked her pinky down the bird’s neck and looked back to the crowd. “Someone’s put a silencer on her!” Ra’Jah sprang up to start the undoing spell on the Callout Canary, chanting softly as Vanessa held and comforted the creature. 

Nina looked at Brooke. The Canadian stared blankly at the carpet, nothing behind her eyes. Nina seemed to be able to sense Brooke’s thoughts going dark, feel her retreating. When she wrapped her hand around Brooke’s arm, magic burned through her consciousness. She felt her mind fog chased away by it. Her soul, which had gone floating, dissociating, was lassoed and hauled back into the moment. Sitting on the floor, in a warm, stuffy room with fourteen other girls and a lie-detecting canary. Brooke felt her gaze being pulled toward Nina’s. The older girl’s expression firm, yet concerned. Brooke winced, knowing instinctively that her jig was up, and not just with the bird.

“Who would  _ do _ something like that?” fretted Ariel as she held up a handful of bird seed to their feathered friend.

Brooke felt her heart twist. By the time she realized she was standing, everyone had noticed. Everyone was looking at her.  _ Ick. _ “Uh…”

“Brooke.” Nina offered her hand. The Canadian took it and felt Nina’s soothing mind magic was over her once again. “There’s no need to hide from us. If theres something you’ve been hiding, you don’t have to.”

Maybe Nina thought she was being kind, sneered an entity from within Brooke. Out yourself now or she’ll do it for you.

People were speaking, and Nina was batting away their words with her own, but brooke barely noticed. She was probably filtering what Brooke was allowed to hear anyway. Mind mages are control freaks, you know this.

“Brooke?”

Vanessa’s voice was the one to make it through. Her eyes were full of concern. Pity, maybe, but mostly she looked like she was sad that Brooke was hurting and wanted to help. And, come to think of it, most people also looked like that. Even the ones who looked skeptical, there was a level of confusion and patience in their faces. Brooke’s mouth parted, but no sound came out. Vanessa kneeled on the floor in front of her. She was reaching out, like she didn’t know if she was supposed to touch Brooke or not. Brooke reached the rest of the way, but only took the ends of Vanessa’s fingers. 

From somewhere behind Vanessa, A’Keria spoke. “We’re your sisters while you’re here, Miss Brooke Lynn. In case you didn’t get the memo, we take care of each other.”

“Exactly,” breathed Nina. “If there’s some way we can help you, we’d like to know.”

“Yeah,” added Silky. “‘Cause of insecurities and all that. Subjects to stay away from. Some of us got shitty families, shitty pasts. Ain’t gonna be nothin’ new.”

Brooke’s lips broke into a wry smile. “Shitty pasts,” she echoed. “Ties into a shitty present sometimes.”

“I still legally belong to my parents,” said Ariel. “That’s a shitty present.”

Brooke gave Vanessa’s fingers a squeeze before she reached out an arm to Ariel, beckoning her over. Sat in the radius of these three girls energy, with Nina using her magic to soothe her, Brooke began to speak. 

“I… would appreciate-- actually, I’ll say, I charmed the bird because I didn’t wanna tell the truth about certain things because… I’ve done some bad shit, and it was in a chaotic, spiraly time in my life almost two years ago, and… it was bad and it’s not who I am anymore, but sometimes I… get pulled that way again and it’s just, I didn’t wanna bring down the mood, okay?”

Ariel stroked Brooke’s arm. At first she flinched, but let the girl keep doing it ... she didn’t know why. “I was lucky-- didn’t feel that way at the time, felt like a curse, like fuck, I have parents who notice shit and dance instructors and peers who are hyper-aware of warning signs because of something that happened earlier in the year. They grabbed me before I went completely off the deep end. I went in-patient for like, six weeks I think? Diagnosed with an eating disorder and depression. Catching up with schoolwork I’d missed was a good distraction for when I went back home. They renovated my room while I was away. Moved things around on the outside hoping my insides would change too. Made me feel unreal and out of place. Then again, I can’t really say if the dissociation was because of the renovation or just me. Probably just me. Uh…” she looked up at Nina. “What was the question?”

Nina smoothed Brooke’s hair. “How can we help. Other than by just being aware of your history.”

“Oh. Um. Comments about my weight or size tend to trigger stuff, so, like, even if it’s not meant that way, my brain will take it and run with it.”

“So this morning at breakfast…” Shuga said, macabre comprehension crossing her angular features.

Brooke nodded stiffly, looking to Silky. “It wasn’t your guys’ fault, you didn’t know.”

“Now we do, though,” said Yvie, the first time she’d spoken in hours. Her expression was unreadable. “So now we can avoid the shit that sets you off. And protect you from other people who don’t know what we know.”

Brooke took in a deep breath. “Wish we could take a walk outside,” she sighed. “I could use some cool night air.” She went to stand up, but in doing so, broke contact with Nina. She felt the magic seep out of her as it was replaced by a wave of exhaustion. Her vision darkened, but Nina was right there, holding her up. Brooke let her eyes fall closed and she rested her head against Nina’s shoulder. She imagined never leaving Nina’s side, feeding off her soothing magic for the rest of their lives, like a tumor.

“Maybe I should come with you,” Nina offered.

Brooke didn’t have time to answer before Silky also stood up, saying words that Brooke didn’t quite digest, but she was offering to give Brooke a piggyback ride so she wouldn’t have to walk. Silky made some kind of quip in there that Brooke missed because the girls chuckled, but she didn’t have it in her to be offended. She merely nodded and reached out to Silky, who guided Brooke’s hands to her shoulders.

Brooke thanked Silky while they were alone in the silent hallway. For the first time in many hours, she truly felt the time of night. In the room, there were over a dozen bodies heating up the space. In the rest of their dorm building, though, there was a grounding chill in the air. Once outside, they ducked out of the doorway and sat on the grass against the brick exterior. Rather, Silky picked the spot and let Brooke down onto the single cement step beneath the front door. Brooke felt her tailbone and pelvis against the hard cement and shifted herself down into the grass, pulling her bare legs to her chest. 

The night air was calming, and the sounds of insects and the distant flickering of fireflies were nice, but there was also too much quiet for her sick mind. She thanked Silky again, just to fill the space.

“You ain’t gotta thank me, it’s the least I could do after causing you hurt.”

“Don’t worry about it, really.” her voice was weak, but her words were truth. “You didn’t know.”

“Yeah, you said that, but I still feel like shit. Like damn I put up a front too, I show people indestructible Silky, but I got feelings too, you know, so why’d I think you were any different?”

“You weren’t thinking.” Brooke’s voice comes out empty, free of anger or bitterness. Again, she was just stating the facts.

Silky pursed her lips. “You’re right. I wasn’t thinking. But I’m gonna think now-- or at least try. Cause people didn’t make it easy on me when I was trynna figure my shit out. What I wouldn’t of gave for someone who knew what I was goin’ through, you know? But at the time I was real shy. You know what-- nevermind, you’re exhausted, you prob’ly want quiet time, I’ll shut up I’m sorry.”

“No…” Brooke licked her dry lips. Her bottom lip split open a little when she smiled. Licking the blood off her lip, she looked at Silky. “No, for once, I actually find your voice soothing.”

Silky let out half a scream-laugh before remembering it was ass o’clock. She clapped a hand over her mouth and smacked Brooke in the shoulders, making her chuckle and reopen the crack in her lip. “Shady Brooke!” Silky hissed. “But alright. What you want me to talk about?”

“What you were talking about before.” Brooke rested her head on her fist, her elbow on her thigh. “You used to be shy?”

Silky prattled off about insecurity, trying to control her volume in the dark. She didn’t seem to mind when Brooke’s eyes drifted in and out of focus. Didn’t protest when Brooke leaned her head against Silky’s shoulder. Brooke told her it was good to have a distraction, so distract she did. 

After a while, Silky’s thoughts wound down. Brooke yawned, “How are we supposed to go to class tomorrow?” 

“Oh you don’t know about runes?”

“Hmm?”

“There’s these magic symbols, like pictograms? And you paint ‘em on with the special shit and the special brush and you paint ‘em on and they give you different enhancements for like a day or half a day or whatever. You prob’ly need a Vitality, Kiki’s really good at drawin’ em. Let’s get you back inside. Cant have you fallin’ asleep on us, breakin’ the charm.”

“No we cannot,” Brooke smiled. This time she felt like she could try and walk, at least. They went back through the doors together, Brooke slouching to lean on Silky for support.

Brooke didn’t have to open her mouth before Silky shouted over the hum of conversation for A’Keria to get her ‘rune shit’. A’Keria went over to her bag and pulled out a stylus and some dry wax chunks. Someone else went over to a cabinet and pulled out a candle holder you’d expect to see on the table at a restaurant. A’Keria lit the wick with hand magic and placed a wax warmer over the small flame, finally dropping two stuck-together cubes into the basin. They’d set up on the far side of the room, just the three of them. A’Keria leaned against the wall, waiting for her wax to melt. “Where you want me to put it?”

Brooke shook her head. “Huh?”

A’Keria smiled. Weirdly, Brooke didn’t feel like she was making fun of her for being unfocused. The gorgeous girl regarded her with compassion. “I’m going to draw the rune on your body somewhere. Where would you like it?”

Brooke thought for a second. “Would here work?” she asked, pointing to her upper arm. A’Keria nodded and got to work. 

Even though A’Keria said to tell her if it hurt, Brooke took comfort in the grounding feeling of the hot was against her skin. It made her feel like she was really present in her body again, and besides, it didn’t hurt that bad. 

“You’ll tell me if I’m hurting you?” A’Keria asked for what felt like the hundredth time. 

“JEEZ KEEKS!” Brooke jumped at Vanessa’s sudden volume next to her. How long had she been there?

“You made me mess up!” A’Keria glared. 

“Sorry.” Vanessa did sound sincere. “But you’re skilled as hell, you know how to fix a mistake.”

“Especially with you as a roommate.”

Vanessa beamed. Brooke felt her labored spirit lift just a little. She couldn’t not be infected with Vanessa’s bright energy.  It didn’t occur to Brooke that she was staring at Vanessa until she watched the girl’s smiling mouth say “what?”

Brooke blushed. “Uh…”

A’Keria groaned and pretended to stick her finger in her throat. Suddenly, she jerked away, looking at Brooke with wide eyes. “Shit. That was incensitive.”

It took Brooke a good second to figure out what A’Keria was referring to. “Oh. No, it’s fine, that’s-- I wasn’t that kind of-- not that it’s worse or better to--” She held out her hand to A’Keria. “Just. You’re good.”

A’Keria exhaled and pretended to wipe sweat from her hairline. “Good, ‘cause like… yeah, I might not be the best informed but I’m not trynna be an asshole, you know?”

Brooke shook her head. “Yeah. I know. You’re good. It’s good.”

“Is it really?” questioned Silky. “‘Cause you seem the type to say it’s good when it ain’t just so nobody’ll worry.”

Brooke couldn’t help but chuckle. “Ah, yeah, that is a Canadian thing.” She locked eyes with A’Keria, who had continued doing the wax rune on her arm. “But I promise: about this, I’m not gonna lie. Anymore,” she amended.

Vanessa pouted her lips and rubbed her chin. “We gotta come up with some kinda code. Like a password so you can say when you are getting uncomfortable or we’re getting close to a uncomfortable subject or somethin’ and we’ll know what you mean but other people won’t be like ‘why’d you just say pineapple for no reason?’”

“You mean like a safeword?” asked Silky.

“Why do  _ you _ know what that is?” Scarlet’s voice piped up from five feet away.

“Oh, ‘cause I’m fat I can’t be kinky?” Silky yelled. “S&M only for the model types is it?”

Scarlet held up her palms. “Not saying you can’t be kinky. Just that you didn’t know Russia wasn’t a continent.”

Brooke broke down laughing along with the rest of the girls. After a minute, Shuga said, “That’s actually a good idea, though. A safeword.”

“Don’t think ‘pineapple’ or ‘oatmeal’ would work for this case,” said Scarlet. 

“It can’t be something that’s likely to come up in conversation, but still can’t be too weird as to attract attention,” mused Nina. 

“Could be a name,” suggested Ariel. “Like a person’s name. Someone from History you wouldn’t hear about that often.”

“We could use Cesar,” said Kahanna. “Like ‘we should totally stab Cesar.’”

“Han,” said Ra’Jah, her tone measured. “Which Cesar are they talking about when they say ‘we should totally stab Cesar’?”

Kahanna shrugged. “I dunno but he must have deserved it.”

Another roll of laughter tore through the party. “Jesus, girl, read a goddamn book!” yelled Soju. 

Mercedes piled on: “I’m not even  _ from _ this country and I know that’s Cesar Augustus!”

“Maybe our safeword should be Kahanna’s IQ,” said Scarlet. 

Nina reached out to the dejected girl, cushioning the rest of the girls’ bullying with words about different kinds of intelligence and how when people think you have good looks you don’t deserve, they will often enjoy watching you fail in other ways. 

“It’s true, Han,” said Brooke. “Can I call you Han? When I was starting my spiral and I was missing classes and my grades were dropping, it was amazing the number of people who said to my face how much they were loving watching me fall. Like compassion? Never heard of her!”

“I’m guessing that didn’t help with the self destruction,” said A’Keria after blowing out her candle.

“It certainly did not. Wait, are you done?”

A’Keria nodded. “It’s taken effect, how could you not notice?”

Brooke had to stop herself for a second to take inventory. Her mind had cleared and she felt, not like she had done a shot of espresso but, like it was the middle of the day and she had a full night’s sleep under her belt. “Wow.”

“Amazing, isn’t it?” said Vanessa. 

Brooke gazed in amazement at the delicate lines of dry wax that now sat on the skin of her left arm. “Sure is. And this lasts for how long?”

“Between twelve and fifteen hours,” said Silky. Depends on the person. You’re gonna wanna crash early tomorrow. Today, technically.”

“Well, it  _ is _ a Friday,” said Brooke. “Won’t be too intense.”

“Ha!” Blasted Vanessa in that blessed foghorn laugh that still startled Brooke. “These satanic teachers put quizzes on Fridays so you have to show up!”

Brooke groaned. “I always hated that. But like, so I do the quiz and then I check out. Someone’ll have to show me that hidden earbud charm. And I’ll need to borrow an iPod.”

_ “Or _ you could pass notes with us!” Vanessa stretched her arm around Brooke’s shoulders. “Kiki, you remember when you made that note into a folded paper crane and made it fly?”

“Yeah,” said A’Keria. “It said ‘can y’all shut the fuck up already’ on it. And you didn’t listen anyway!”

 

The night wound down after that, the girls using Nina’s internet-enabled book and a projection charm to pirate the second Ouija movie and show it on the wall. Brooke wasn’t the least bit sleepy, thanks to A’Keria’s rune, but she still laid her head on Vanessa’s shoulder through the whole film. Later, when the rest of the girls were recapping and chatting about the movie, Brooke wasn’t able to partake in the conversation. She’d been too busy playing with Vanessa’s fingers and memorizing her heartbeat to pay attention.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this isnt the end of this world I've made here. I have plenty of ideas for future oneshots.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic has an official playlist! it's 7 hours and full of BOPS  
> https://open.spotify.com/user/217a6n7b5s5wjlhebog2vq7fq/playlist/7GvorsKc5HpQjSgNOkAbKa?si=zg431rCMTYS2KHtBPZnmsg


End file.
